From ballgirl to Grand Slam champion, Azarenka makes it to top

NEW YORK, Sep 6 - When she was a young girl, Victoria Azarenka watched Max Mirnyi 's matches from up close. As a ballgirl.

They were on the court together Thursday, too, winning the U.S. Open mixed doubles championship. The pair from Belarus beat Meghann Shaughnessy of the United States and Leander Paes of India 6-4, 7-6 (6).

The 30-year Mirnyi won his seventh Grand Slam title in doubles and mixed doubles. The 18-year-old Azarenka won her first Slam championship.

"I don't believe it yet," Azarenka said. "I'm just at the point that I don't realize we won the Grand Slam. I knew we won the match, but I'm still not there."

Especially considering where she was several years ago.

Mirnyi recalled seeing Azarenka when she was 5 or 6. Later, she helped out at Davis Cup matchups and went on to move up through the junior ranks as a player.

"It's incredible progress she's made," he said.

For Mirnyi, it's been easy to decide where to keep his Grand Slam trophies -- the ones he won in the United States stay at his home in Florida, the ones he's earned in Europe are at his home in Belarus.

Mirnyi and Azarenka rallied from a 6-2 deficit in the tiebreaker, saving four set points.

"I was mainly concerned at the time to just keep composure and continue to apply pressure," Mirnyi said.

In the women's doubles semifinals, Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan beat Agnes Szavay of Hungary and Vladimira Uhlirova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Having lost in the Australian Open final, Chan and Chuang will play Nathalie Dechy of France and Dinara Safina of Russia for the U.S. Open title. Dechy and Safina defeated Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Rennae Stubbs of Australia 6-4, 6-4.

The men's doubles final will take place Friday. The 10th-ranked pair of Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Julian Knowle of Austria will play No. 9 Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner of the Czech Republic.

IT'S A FIRST

For David Wagner, the top-ranked quad wheelchair player in the world, playing his first career match at the U.S. Open meant the world.

Wagner, who won the silver medal in singles and gold medal in doubles at the Paralympic Games in Athens, was instrumental in pushing the United States Tennis Association to become the first Grand Slam to offer a quad wheelchair competition.

In his first match Thursday, Wagner defeated his doubles partner and fellow American Nick Taylor 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in the round-robin competition.

"This is the first able-body Grand Slam to offer the quad division," said Wagner, who tapes his racket to his hand before matches. "It's something we pushed for with the USTA to make it work. It's an honor to be here and a privilege to be here and be a part of it."

The quad event is for wheelchair players who have limited strength in one upper and one lower extremity.

Wagner played tennis prior to breaking his neck when a wave knocked him down while he and friends were having fun with a Frisbee at Redondo Beach, Calif.

Looking for a way to do something "athletically" again by 1999, he read about a camp for wheelchair tennis in his home state of Oregon and "instantly fell in love again with the sport."

Wagner is an elementary school teacher, but has not been in the classroom since 2004 because the Wheelchair Super Series tour keeps him on the road full time during the year. This year, he won the British Open and Japan Open titles.

Wagner doesn't want to look too far ahead, but he already knows how it would feel if he took the title at Flushing Meadows.

"To win the U.S. Open, with this being the inaugural event, it would just be awesome," he said.