| Sunday, 6 July 2008 Written by Adam Lincoln Martina Navratilova’s bid to add yet another Wimbledon title to her record haul ended in reasonably light-hearted disappointment on Court 2, as she and partner Helena Sukova fell in the final of the ladies’ invitational doubles to Jana Novotna and Kathy Rinaldi. Although they won the first set, Navratilova and Sukova eventually succumbed in a championship tie-break, 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-5). Navratilova was playing the popular round robin event for the first time, after finally drawing a veil over her brilliant career a couple of years ago. Her fellow players in today’s match are regular participants though, with the Novotna-Rinaldi combination past winners of the trophy. In any case, the invitational event is about reminiscence and this match featured arguably the three best serve-and-volleyers of the past three decades in the Czech-born Navratilova, Novotna and Sukova. All are a step or three slower, to be sure, but still capable of brilliant shotmaking. Novotna was singles champion in 1998 and twice runner-up, and won 76 tour doubles titles during her career. Sukova was twice runner-up at the Australian Open, once at the US Open, and made the quarters at Wimbledon four years in a row during the 1980s. Novotna and Sukova actually won the Wimbledon doubles title together in 1989 and 1990; both went on to win the event once more with Martina Hingis in the late 1990s, after Novotna had also won it with Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario in 1995. And nothing much more can be said of Navratilova: 18 grand slam singles titles, 41 doubles (including mixed), 167 tour singles titles and 177 doubles titles. In fact, this week marks 30 years since Navratilova ascended to the No.1 singles ranking for the first time. For her part, Rinaldi was no slouch on grass either. In 1981, she was the youngest player to win a match at Wimbledon (at 14 years, 91 days), a record that stood until 1991 when Jennifer Capriati came along. The American, now 41, made the semis at the Championships in 1985, her best Grand Slam result, and after a stint in the top 10 and a few years playing the tour as a mother, finally retired in 1997. Today, Novotna and Rinaldi got off to the faster start, breaking Sukova for 2-1 and holding the advantage until 5-3. Rinaldi’s groundstrokes and Novotna’s net play proved the perfect combination until the American was broken for 5-5. Sukova duly held her next serve and with Novotna serving to keep the set alive, hit a winning lob return to clinch the opener. The second set began much like the first, with Novotna and Rinaldi making the first breakthrough on Sukova’s serve. A second break was achieved for 5-2, when Navratilova took target practice at Novotna, who hit a winning reflex volley into the open court. An injury timeout while Sukova had her thigh strapped provided a chance for the others to show their skills at star-jumps, sit-ups and press-ups, but it was a brief interlude as Novotna and Rinaldi subsequently broke Navratilova to level proceedings. A championship tie-break ensued, with victory going to the first team that won 10 points by a margin of two. Volleying errors by Navratilova and Sukova gave their opponents five match points, and a Sukova smash could save just one. In the final of the senior gentlemen’s invitational event, Americans Ken Flach and the jovial Robert Seguso secured a similarly close victory over Jeremy Bates of Britain and Swede Anders Jarryd, 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (5-7), 1-0 (10-7). The younger gentlemen's invitational doubles went to Americans Donald Johnson and Jared Palmer in a walkover over the Dutch pairing of Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis.
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