Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina won his second consecutive Olympus US Open Series tournament title in as many weeks, defeating Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-3, 6-3 to win the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. Del Potro, 19, earns 70 total points and moves into third place in the Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge. With only one week remaining, Del Potro is behind leaders Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, with only five points separating the three men.
On the women’s side, seven players, including world No. 10 Anna Chakvetadze, will head into New Haven this week to compete for second and third place (behind 2008 Olympus US Open Series champion Dinara Safina) and the opportunity to earn a combined $750,000 in bonus prize money at the US Open (see page 2).
Both the men's and women's winners of the Olympus US Open Series will compete for $1 million in bonus prize money at the 2008 US Open.
Click here for the Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge leaders after Week Five.
The Olympus US Open Series concludes this week at the combined men’s and women’s Pilot Pen Tennis event in New Haven. On Saturday, August 23, the women’s final will air on CBS beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET and the men’s final will air on ESPN2 beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET. ESPN2 will provide a total of 14 hours of coverage throughout the entire week.
Second and third place finishers of the Olympus US Open Series will also compete for bonus prize money at the US Open. Second place Olympus US Open Series finishers can win an additional $500,000 bonus if they win the US Open. Third place Olympus US Open Series finishers can win an addition $250,000 bonus if they win the US Open.
The 2008 Olympus US Open Series marks the fifth year of the Series which links 10 summer tournaments to the US Open, creating a cohesive, six-week summer tennis season for ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour professional tournaments in North America. In 2008, Olympus became the first title sponsor of the Series. The Olympus US Open Series is also supported by sponsors American Express, Evian, MassMutual Financial Group, Valspar Paint, and Wolf Blass Wines.
Roger Federer won the 2007 Olympus US Open Series men’s title and Maria Sharapova won the women’s title. Federer went on to win the US Open and collected the $1.4 million winner’s check plus the $1 million OUSOS bonus payment for a record $2.4 million payout -- the largest in tennis history.