Tennis at the Pilot Pen Tournament

Went to a few matches at the Pilot Pen Tournament in New Haven, CT last weekend.  It's so good to get away.  (Note to self: get away more often, much more often.)   There was lots of top notch tennis talent in a very nice facility.  Interesting international crowd, lots of family activities.  I wasn't keen on the blaring TV commercials broadcast on the big screens during breaks though.  I don't get it why the stands were only half-full for even semifinals and finals matches.  Too close to the American Open? 

The women's semi-finals on Friday night were between Eleni Danilidou of Greece and Agnes Szavay of Hungary. The players were evenly matched, the crowd seemed to favor Agnes. She's only 18, and went from a ranking of something like 240 last year to 42 this year.  She's got super reflexes, her strokes are strong and quick, she places the ball into all areas of the court.  We'll be seeing more of Miss Szavay in the future.   Szavay won the semifinals in three sets (4-6, 6-1, 7-5).  On Saturday, she took herself out of the finals in the second set against Svetlana Kuznetsova due to back pain. Kuzsnetsova had the strange "luck" of winning three of her matches in this tournament because her opponent dropped out. Weird.  Watch for Szavay in the U.S. Open.

James Blake played great tennis, as usual, winning the men's finals.  What a great athlete and crowd pleaser.  I could do without the incessant chanting of his J-Block fans though, that got old pretty quick.   

The men's doubles matches were insane, you can't believe the quickness and reflexes of these guys.  Wild to watch.  I wish there was doubles coverage on TV, the game is so fast-paced and tactical.  The men's doubles winning team this year was Mahesh Bhupati of India (although the Pilot Pen information sheet lists him as being from Pakistan) and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.