Zimbabwe's top player Cara Black and her American partner Liezel
Huber saw their hopes of winning their seventh women's tennis
doubles title of the year going up in smoke when they lost in the
final of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada, on Sunday night.
According to Tuesday's The Herald, the Zimbabwean and her
American partner, who were the top seeds at the US$1.34 million
Tier I event, suffered an upset 4-6, 6-2, 5-10 defeat at the hands
of the second-seeded pair of Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and
Japan's Ai Sugiyama.
Srebotnik and Sugiyama picked up a winners' cheque for US$54,540
while Black and Huber received US$27,670.
It was third time lucky for Srebotnik and Sugiyama on Sunday, as
they put final heartbreak at the French Open and Wimbledon behind
them to capture their first title together at the Rogers Cup.
The final was a re-run of July's championship match at Wimbledon
and judging by the intensity with which Srebotnik and Sugiyama
started the match, they were eager to avenge the painful three-set
defeat they suffered at the All England Club six weeks ago.
However, after dropping a tight opening set, Black and Huber
roared back, surrendering a mere 16 points on their way to leveling
the match.
The tie-break was unsurprisingly a tense affair, but the
lower-ranked partnership rose to the occasion giving an exemplary
serving display to secure a 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 win.
(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2007)