Impromptu Duo of Smylie, Woodbridge Wins Crown

Liz Smylie and Todd Woodbridge of Australia completed a straight sets march through the U.S. Open mixed doubles competition today, clinching the championship with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Jim Pugh of the United States and Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union.

Not bad for an impromptu team.

Smylie had been scheduled to play with regular partner John Fitzgerald but he pulled out of the tournament when his wife gave birth a week before the Open.

Woodbridge, as a last minute replacement, and Smylie became just the second team in the Open era to win the title without dropping a set. The only others to do that were Margaret Court and Marty Riessen in 1969.

It marked the second mixed doubles crown for Smylie, who also won the event in 1983. “As you get older, it gets relative,” she said. “It’s different than the one I won in 1983.

“You realize Grand Slam tournaments are very important. You realize what’s attached to them.”

For Woodbridge, it was the first Grand Slam title.

Woodbridge said he played most of his shots to Zvereva while Smylie was the target of most of Pugh’s shots. “You know when you play mixed, the men play to the women,” Smylie said. “You know you’ll get more play than your partner.”

The winners offered different views of their victory.

“We were awesome,” Smylie said.

“We were lucky,” Woodbridge said.