Wimbledon Review 2005
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In Roger Federer and Venus Williams, the 119th Championships embraced two familiar figures as Singles champions. Federer triumphed in the Men's Singles for the third successive year, while Williams, whose form and ranking sank to a depressing low after injury, pulled off a spectacular comeback as the 14th seed to collect her third Ladies' title in six years.
Despite poor weather towards the end of the second week, the tournament was completed on time, with Federer's stunning, straight-sets victory over Andy Roddick the highlight of the culminating day. The world No.1 has now won 36 consecutive matches on grass, just five short of matching Bjorn Borg's record, and he has also now won the last 21 finals in which he has played. The winner's cheque of £630,000, while obviously welcome, was of secondary importance to him, as was evident by his reactions at the end - tears of joy.
The success of Williams in an all-American final against Lindsay Davenport restored the women's trophy to US hands after Maria Sharapova's success for Russia in 2004. The previous five years had all gone the way of American women, with the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, claiming two each and Davenport becoming the last champion of the 20th century.
Perhaps the surprise of The Championships was the victory in the Men's Doubles of Stephen Huss and Wesley Moodie, who became the first qualifiers ever to capture the Wimbledon title in only their second tournament together. The Australian Huss and South African Moodie. defeated seeded opposition in five consecutive rounds, culminating in a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3 over the American twins, Bob and Mike Bryan, who have now lost in the final of all three 2005 Grand Slams.
The Ladies' Doubles championship went to the Zimbabwe/South Africa pairing of Cara Black and Liezel Huber, who scored a surprisingly easy 6-2, 6-1 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Amelie Mauresmo, the Russian/French combination who were unseeded as a doubles pair but are among the leading lights of the women's singles rankings.
There was a popular victory in the Mixed Doubles for Mary Pierce, runner-up at the French Open and a singles quarter-finalist in here, and Mahesh Bhupathi. The French-Indian duo were the last of the trophy winners on the final day, completing a 6-4, 6-2 victory over the Ukraine's Tatiana Perebiynis and Paul Hanley of Australia.
There was disappointment for the 48-year-old Martina Navratilova in her bid to break Billie Jean King's record of 20 Wimbledon titles. Victory in either the Ladies' or Mixed doubles would have seen King's long-standing mark eclipsed, but Navratilova was beaten in the semi-finals of the Ladies' event and the quarters of the Mixed.
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