Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova win US Open women’s doubles title in third-set tiebreaker

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King, Shvedova win US Open women’s doubles title

NEW YORK — Resuming play three points from defeat, Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova saved a match point, forced a third-set tiebreaker and won their second straight Grand Slam women’s doubles title.

All in 20 minutes.

King and Shvedova beat second-seeded Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Monday at the U.S. Open in a match suspended a day earlier because of rain. Play opened with King serving at 4-5 in the third set, already down a point. It was a nerve-racking situation for the American — Shvedova usually serves first at the beginning of their matches.

Huber and Petrova quickly earned a match point but couldn’t convert.

Leading 6-4 in the tiebreaker, Shvedova hit a perfect lob to clinch the championship.

“It’s strange,” Shvedova said. “I don’t feel like we won, because today was such a short day.”

Sunday was Shvedova’s 23rd birthday, so the pair enjoyed some cake while waiting to see if their match would resume.

Shvedova, of Kazakhstan, and King teamed up to win Wimbledon, the first major women’s doubles championship for both, then came into the U.S. Open seeded sixth.

Huber, who was born in South Africa and became an American citizen in 2007, was seeking to become the eighth player in the Open era to win the women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles in the same year at the tournament. She teamed with Bob Bryan in mixed doubles.

Huber has won four Grand Slam women’s doubles titles.