Men’s SemifinalsWith the rains continuing in New Haven, CT, tournament organizers were forced to move the men’s singles semifinals indoors today, as they did for the women’s semifinals yesterday evening. The setting once again was the Cullman-Heyman indoor tennis courts on the campus of Yale University. Fortunately, the matches were not played simultaneously, as were yesterday’s, so the players had fewer distractions, and the spectators that waited out weather delays were able to watch both contests.
In the first semifinal, Sam Querrey, the sixth seed, eliminated unseeded José Acasuso. As he has all week, Querrey dominated on serve. He delivered eleven aces, faced only one break point in the match, and lost only five points on serve in the second set. While the American possesses a powerful first serve, it’s the variety of his delivery that has made him so successful this week. Querrey’s been able to move the placement of his serve around the box, and the mixture of the shot has confounded his opponents. Acasuso was successful on his own serve early in the second set, but was broken when serving at 4-4. After the Argentine smashed his racquet, he was given a warning for racquet abuse by Chair Umpire Ali Nili. Just a few minutes later, Querrey successful held serve, and earned a spot in the final.
Summary of Friday’s (lack of) Pilot Pen action:As rain played havoc with the semifinals, tournament officials moved the doubles action indoors to the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center at Yale University. There is limited capacity at the indoor facility, so the tournament is still hoping to keep the singles action on the Stadium Court of the Connecticut Tennis Center.
Incidentally, with a seating capacity of 15,000, the Stadium Court here is tied with Wimbledon's as the third largest tennis stadium in the world in terms of capacity.
Friday, 28 August 2009 00:00
Pilot Pen Women's Semifinals Report, Friday, August 28th
Written by Jack Cunniff
Your nightmares might consist of dreaming about having to take a test that you didn’t study for, where you know nothing about the topic. Or maybe falling, falling, falling, before waking suddenly in a sweat. Or perhaps you’re in a crowd of people and find yourself without any clothes. Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament Director Anne Worcester’s nightmare? Well, she just lived through it. And it may not be over.The rains started early at the Connecticut Tennis Center this morning, more than an hour before play was scheduled to begin at 12:00 pm on the Stadium Court.
