Rising American Sam Querrey captured his first career Olympus US Open Series tournament title with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win over qualifier Carsten Ball of Australia in today’s LA Tennis Open final. With the win, the No. 6 seed Querrey earns 70 total points and moves into first place in the men’s Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge Standings. Querrey has now reached four singles finals in 2009, including last week’s Indianapolis Tennis Championships --- the first men’s stop on the Olympus Open Series.
On the women’s side, No. 8 seed Marion Bartoli of France appeared in her second consecutive Stanford final and won the Bank of the West Classic with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory against over No. 2 seed Venus Williams. With the victory, Bartoli --- the 2008 Olympus US Open Series runner-up --- moves into first place in the women’s standings.
The men's and women's winners of the Olympus US Open Series will compete for $1 million in bonus prize money at the 2009 US Open.
CLICK HERE for the Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge leaders after Week 2.
Next on the Olympus US Open Series: The men will compete in Washington, D.C., at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic --- where two-time Olympus US Open Series champion Andy Roddick will make his first Series appearance this summer and is competing in his first tournament since reaching the Wimbledon final --- while the women head to the LA Tennis Women’s Championships with reigning Olympus US Open Series champion Dinara Safina and 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic included in the main draw. ESPN2 will provide 16 hours of coverage, including back-to-back finals on Sunday beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. Tennis Channel will provide more than 10 hours of coverage beginning Friday.
Rafael Nadal won the 2008 Olympus US Open Series men’s title and Dinara Safina won the women’s title. In 2007, Roger Federer collected the biggest paycheck in tennis history -- $2.4 million -- for winning US Open and the Olympus US Open Series. In 2005, Kim Clijsters also captured both the US Open and the Olympus US Open Series, winning $2.2 million -- the largest purse in women’s sports history.
Now in its sixth season, the Olympus US Open Series has established itself as a true regular season of hard court tennis, linking 10 summer tournaments to the US Open. In 2008, Olympus became the first title sponsor of the Series. The Olympus US Open Series is also supported by sponsors American Express, Evian and MassMutual Financial Group.