The Russian tennis player is already in the US Open final. What is Vera doing at 39 years old?

Daniil Medvedev’s victory in the semifinals of the US Open men’s singles had no chance of going unnoticed. Almost the entire sports world watched how the Russian opposed the union of the first racket of the world and the stands. Against this background, Vera Zvonareva’s success in the women’s doubles semifinals turned out to be almost unnoticeable.

But our athlete is ready to compete for the prestigious trophy for the fifth time!

Vera won her first US Open 17 years ago, but at 39 she continues to show a phenomenal game.

Step to the final

Zvonareva began her professional career more than two decades ago, when Gustavo Kuerten and Marat Safin were shining in the men’s singles, Martin Hingis was spectacular in the women’s singles, and Anna Kournikova was considered the strongest Russian woman. At that time, four-year-old Daniil Medvedev had hardly decided that he would become a tennis player, and the future first racket of the world, Carlos Alcaraz, had not yet been born.

Over many years in tennis, our athlete has achieved a lot: she rose to second place in women’s singles, played in the finals of Grand Slam tournaments several times, and reached prestigious trophies three times in doubles. In 2006, Vera won the US Open paired with Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy. In 2012, the Russian woman achieved victory in Australia together with Svetlana Kuznetsova, and in 2020, German Laura Siegemund became Zvonareva’s partner in the victorious final at the US Open. Three years later, the same Russian-German duo again went to America for victory and is already one step away from the goal.

39-year-old Zvonareva and 35-year-old Siegemund received the 12th seed in the women’s pairs competition at the US Open, which did not allow them to be considered among the main favorites. However, the pair did not meet rivals with higher ratings on their way, gradually falling away from the race. In every match, the representatives of Russia and Germany were able to win, so there was nothing sensational in the confident progress of the duo. Although in some cases it really took a lot of work.

Already in the first round, the athletes faced a difficult three-set confrontation with representatives of the United States, in which the rivals won 17 games. The quarterfinals were also difficult, where Zvonareva and Siegemund met with Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Brazilian Beatrice Haddad-Maya. In the first set, the pair with the Russian in their lineup even lost 5:7, but won the second game with a mirror score of 7:5, and then snatched victory in the decisive period – 6:4. There was only one step left before the main match of the tournament – it was necessary to stop the American Jennifer Brady and the Brazilian representative Luisa Stefani.

The gift was not missed

Usually, in the later stages of big tournaments, rivals stand against each other and it is not very often possible to achieve an easy victory. But the semi-final match in women’s pairs at the US Open turned out to be relatively easy for the future finalists. Zvonareva and Siegemund made a break in the first game, and then broke their serve. The opponents were close to winning the third game, but even after 40:15 they managed to lose. Then the Russian and German brought the score to 4:0 – just a perfect start!

After a bright start, something went wrong in the actions of the winners of the US Open 2020. Three games in a row ended not in their favor – and with the score 4:3, the fans’ positive attitude towards a quick victory began to disappear. It took a lot of work for the ladies to get back into the game and finish the set with acceptable numbers on the scoreboard – 6:4. Moreover, the athletes won all the remaining games in a bitter struggle.

Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva / Photo: © Rob Carr / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Before the start of the second set, there was some concern for the tennis players from Russia and Germany, but they started again vigorously – they made a break on the move and confidently took the game on Zvonareva’s serve. Siegemund’s mistake at the reception cheered up her opponents a little, but only they had to quickly repay the debt – in the fifth game, with the score 0:30, Stephanie, being at the net, managed to powerfully throw the ball into touch.

Vera and her German colleague did not miss the gift of a triple break point. After this, the American-Brazilian couple was unable to recover from the failure and return to the game. A 1:6 defeat in the set and 0-2 in the match meant one thing – Vera and Laura were going to the final again, who now had to play with Erin Routliffe from Australia and Gabriela Dabrowski from Canada.