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Notebook Saturday night's all-women's show draws record crowdPosted: Monday September 02, 2002 6:47 PMUpdated: Monday September 02, 2002 8:31 PM NEW YORK (AP) -- A record crowd of 23,145 attended Saturday night's all-women's show at the U.S. Open, the first time in this Grand Slam's history that the program has not included a men's match. The session featured three-time Grand Slam champion Jennifer Capriati defeating Meghann Shaughnessy, former No. 1 player Martina Hingis ousting Amanda Coetzer and a doubles match with Hingis and Anna Kournikova eliminating Laura Granville and Jennifer Hopkins. The previous night-session record was 23,136 set on Sept. 3, 2000.
Just the ticketTwo days of rain at the U.S. Open kept ticket-holders from seeing the tennis they thought they'd see. So organizers modified their policy. Anyone who brings a stub from Monday's day session will get at least a grounds pass for day sessions Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday that allows them access to all but three main courts. And if there is room available on those courts, they can watch matches there. That applies to spectators who attended Monday's day session, which lasted just 90 minutes because of the rain. Normally, those spectators would have no claim to a refund or future ticket. "This is just an added option to the current policy," Arlen Kantarian, the USTA's chief executive for pro tennis, said of the stub policy. He shouldn't have to worry any more about scrambling to deal with tickets. "The weather looks clear as a bell through Sunday," the tournament's final day, Kantarian said.
Bring your credit cardThe final event on the ATP season calendar is the Tennis Masters Cup, which brings together the year's eight top players and determines the No. 1. This year the event, set for Nov. 12-17, is scheduled for Shanghai. "It will be the biggest professional sports event ever in China," said Mark Miles, chief executive officer of the ATP. Will visitors be allowed to travel beyond Shanghai? Jiang Sixian, vice mayor of the host city, smiled at the question. "You can go anywhere if you can afford it," he said.
Open's weathermanThe man with the furrowed brow at the U.S. Open is Brian Earley, referee for the event and the man in charge of scheduling. Two days of rain have left him scrambling to find room for matches. Just one of 64 scheduled matches was completed Sunday, and 60 more were postponed on Monday as organizers waited through seven more hours of rain. Earley described the schedule situation as fluid -- appropriate with all the rain -- except for the final weekend. "The plan, of course, is always to stay with the women's final on Saturday night and the men's final on Sunday afternoon," he said. "That's a change if we play with that one. I don't see that happening."
Rainy ratingsRain limited CBS Sports' coverage of the U.S. Open to a lot of reruns of old matches. Jimmy Connors, who turned 50 Monday, was a mainstay of the coverage, but the network caught a break, showing defending champion Lleyton Hewitt's five-set victory over James Blake. The match generated a 2.5 overnight rating and a 6 share, up 19 percent from last year's 2.1 rating and a 6 share. Sunday's coverage, which included more than five hours of rain delay before Serena Williams defeated Deja Bedanova, produced a 2.3 rating and a 6 share.
Missing memoriesGuillermo Vilas won four Grand Slam events in his career, two Australian Opens, a French and a U.S. Open. He does not have any awards from those events, though. Vilas, playing Masters doubles at the Open, said the Slams gave him replicas of the trophies. "We have no trophies because they stay in place," he said. "Most of the big tournaments give you replicas. I have tons of replicas. "When I played the last one at Forest Hills, they just gave me a little ball, a gold ball. I lost it in the changing room. "Every time they say, 'Where are your trophies?' I say, 'Oh, you have to fly to different places and look for them.'" |
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