At The Open With Marcia Frost...

Wednesday, August 27th-Main Draw Day Three

After three and a half hours of outstanding tennis and a bad call that decided the match, there is no way you can call Amer Delic a loser tonight. Despite what the final score was, he is still a champion.

When you put two NCAA champions on a court -- Amer Delic (2002) vs. Sargis Sargisian (1995) you expect a lot, but I have to admit through the first two split sets and into 4-2 Amer in the third, it was not exciting tennis. Both players displayed powerful serves that the other could not return. Amer took the lead because he had more aces in the serves that reached up to 133 mph. Then, something happened. Maybe it was the fact that the crowd, tired of listening to Sargis' group of fans scream loudly, got behind Amer and raised the level of excitement in the stadium.

It all started with a break point for Sargis that would have had him serving for the set. Amer pulled out all the stops over and over through five deuces to win the game. Then there was more exchanges until Amer had broken back. Neither player gave an inch into a tiebreaker that belonged to Amer.

The fourth set was full of unbelievable points as Amer began to tire and the more experienced player prevailed. He took the set 6-2 as Amer tried to hold it together. There seemed to come a second wind in the fifth, though, and it looked like the NCAA champion had the match. He served at 5-4 for one match point, but lost it. Then, a second match point came after a deuce -- or so everyone thought. The ball was called out (though instant reply showed it was clearly in). Amer argued against the call to no avail. The call stood and it cost him the match. Amer never got it back after that and finally lost that final set, 7-5.

What an exciting group of doubles players it was on Court 9 this morning -- an NCAA winning team, a US Open Junior doubles finalist and last year's top college player. It was a matchup I was really looking forward to and I wasn't the only one. The crowd kept increasing for this quartert.

Rajeev Ram has an incredibly powerful serve, but he was the least effective of the group and the only one to be broken. Partner Brian Wilson has a return of serve that is lightening fast and compliments Rajeev's volleys. The only thing that kept them from the match were those two breaks. Robby Ginepri and Bobby Reynolds (above) were just slightly better for a 6-4,6-4 win.

Girls' 18 Super National winners Anne Yelsey and Riza Zalameda were definitely the (large) crowd's favorite. They cheered for every ace Anne served against Liezel Huber and every incredible volley Riza made over Magdalena Maleeva. Through deuces and break points the match stayed close throughout the first set. It was just by one last break that Liezel and Magdalena took it, 6-4.

The second set of the match had the crowd on their feet. Riza Zalameda continued to shock with her perfectly placed volleys, but it just wasn't enough. The elder group squeezed two breaks through (in deuce games) and had it 6-2.

Until Tomorrow...

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