LaNUBlog™

Yaroslava Shvedova crashed out in the first round of the Tashkent Open on Tuesday at the hands of Serbia's Vesna Dolonc. The eighth seed was stunned by her 24-year-old opponent, who recorded a 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 win in the hard-court tournament in Uzbekistan. Dolonc put in an assured performance throughout the match and kept her nerve after falling 5-2 behind in the first-set tie-break to take it 8-6. The second set was another tight affair, but Dolonc edged it 7-5 to seal a second-round clash with fourth seed Donna Vekic. Seventh seed Galina Voskoboeva joins her in round two after who securing a comfortable 6-3 6-4 victory over young Ukrainian Maryna Zanevska. The 20-year-old stood little chance against her experienced Russian opponent, who never looked in danger of being eliminated in the manner of Shvedova. However, youngsters Misaki Doi and Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor enjoyed more success in overcoming Evgeniya Rodina and Arina Folts respectively. Japan’s Doi sealed a 6-4 6-2 win...

Rafael Nadal has won his second US Open title after a gripping triumph over world number one Novak Djokovic on Monday. The Spaniard continued his stunning season after outlasting Djokovic 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-1 at Flushing Meadows in three hours and 19 minutes. It was Nadal's second grand slam victory of 2013, following his triumph at the French Open, and the 13th major title of his career. The 27-year-old Spaniard is now third on the overall list of grand slam winners, four behind Roger Federer (17) and one behind American great Pete Sampras (14). Djokovic dominated the winners, hitting 46 to Nadal's 27, but was undone by 53 unforced errors, compared to 20 from the Spanish world number two. Serbia's Djokovic was slow out of the blocks in the opening set, making 14 unforced errors and struggling to find his range on both sides of the court. It led to the Serbian being broken twice as Nadal won the last three games to take out the set 6-2. After squandering two b...