Rio Olympics mixed doubles silver medalist Rajeev Ram of USA, pairing with three-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champion Samantha Stosur of Australia, were beaten by Bethanie Mattek-Sands of USA/Jamie Murray of United Kingdom by 6-3, 6-1 in the mixed doubles semi-final of $ 57.24m US Open at the Louis Armstrong Stadium USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center here on Thursday.
It was an easy victory for Mattek-Sands/Murray who raced to straight sets verdict in just 55 minutes. Mattek-Sands/Murray won 56 total points which included 24 winners. They won five of nine break points.Rajeev/Stosur won 33 total points which included 15 winners and they won one out of two break points.
In the first set, Rajeev/Stosur were broken in the seventh and 9th minutes as Mattek-Sands/Murray won by 6-3 in 31 minutes. In the second set, they opponents exchanged beaks in the second and third games. However, Mattek-Sands/Murray clinched the set at 6-1 and the match
In the closely fought mixed second semi-final, top seeded pair of Hao-Ching Chan (Taipei) and Michael Venus (New Zealand) fired 11 aces but toiled to overcome evenly-matched Latisha Chan (Taipei) and Ivan Dodig (Croatia) by 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 in one hour and 32 minutes.Chan/Dodig served six aces and committed seven double faults.
Chan/Venus unleashed 37 winners and won two break points out of 4 and committed 16 unforced errors. Chan/Dodig fired 27 winners and won one out of four break points. Chan/Venus won a total of 73 points in comparison to their rivals’ 60 total points.
The Rajeev/Stosur team earned $ 38,.000. The winning pair will get a cheque for $160,000 while runners-up are entitled to a cash award of $ 76,000.
