Siegemund, Zvonareva celebrate US Open title with a hug

ByEurosport

Updated 11/09/2020 at 20:32 GMT

Germany's Laura Siegemund and Russia's Vera Zvonareva are US Open doubles champions thanks to a 6-4, 6-4 win over Nicole Melichar and Yifan Xu. For Zvonareva, it is her second women's doubles title in New York, while Siegemund has previously won mixed doubles in America.

Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva

Image credit: Getty Images

Germany's Laura Siegemund and Russian Vera Zvonareva captured the US Open women's doubles crown with a 6-4, 6-4 win over third seeds Nicole Melichar of the United States and China's Yifan Xu on Friday.

The unseeded German-Russian duo, who had never competed together before the US Open, broke their opponents three times and won 79% of their first-serve points during the 80-minute clash on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

The victory secured a first Grand Slam women's doubles championship for Siegemund and a third for Zvonareva as the Russian won the 2006 New York title with Nathalie Dechy and 2012 Australian Open crown with Svetlana Kuznetsova.

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After wrapping up the victory, the pair celebrated with a hug, but only after asking the chair umpire for permission, wary of breaking Covid-19 protocols.

"It's special to win a Grand Slam. I guess it was important to do that," the Russian said after the match.

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Her German partner was also delighted to be able to embrace her doubles partner, having been overcome with emotion at winning her first women's doubles ttie.

"Yeah, I felt already the rounds before, I'm like very emotional usually at the end of a match. I'm, like, screaming and jumping. I want to hug my partner, I have this urge.