From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Subject: US Open - Thursday night coverage (spoilers)
Reply-To: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles C. Lin)
Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 05:23:39 GMT


    Most of the afternoon's play was delayed by rain, but they
were able to start by nearly 10 PM (Eastern Standard Time).  The
third match of the day between McEnroe and Nargiso was played
at night while Sampras and Agassi who were scheduled for night
play are playing tomorrow, weather permitting.

    First, we have a big upset.  Navratilova loses in three
sets to Magdalena Maleeva, the youngest of the three Maleeva
sisters.  The score was something like 6-3, 0-6, 6-3.  Big
surprise though Martina looked shaky against Shaun Stafford.

    I think Zina Garrison won her match.  I can't recall the
other matches offhand.

    During the night matches,  McEnroe played Italian, Diego
Nargiso.   Diego is a left hander who plays somewhat like
McEnroe.  He doesn't appear to be the best of baseliners, though
he is OK.  He is more of an all-courter.  Able to play net
and stay back, he was mixing it up pretty well.  His serve
is pretty good.  Mac started off a little flat.  He was playing
good but not sharp.   Nargiso won the first set 6-4.  The
second set went pretty much like the first, but Mac won it
6-3.  By then, it was getting late, and USA stopped coverage
due to contractual obligations with CBS, and CBS went over
to the Grandstand court where most of the action was
occuring.

    11th seed (I think) Michael Stich was facing Brad Gilbert.
If I recall, Stich didn't play such a good match in his
first round, and Gilbert made a note of it after his first
round, and felt his chances were decent.  Stich won the
first set 7-6, then Gilber 6-3, then Stich, 6-3, then
Gilbert 6-3, then Stich went up one break to 4-1 in the
fifth.  Gilbert managed to break back and get to 4-all.
Stich held to 5-4.  Gilbert went down 15-40, two match
points, to Stich.  Gilbert won the next two to tie up
(the second one coming on a strong first serve), then missed
a forehand just wide to go down another break point, but
eventually won the game.  Stich easily held to go 6-5, and
Gilbert also held to force a tiebreak.  7 points later,
Gilbert had won the tiebreak and upset Stich, the second
men's seed to fall.   They began televising somewhere
aroudn 15-40.   Gilbert showed his usual tenacity in
winning this match.  Stich only seemed to play tightly
right in the tiebreak.

    Meanwhile, during all of this, McEnroe had rushed to
a 6-0 third set, and was cruising in the fourth.  The challenge
that Nargiso made earlier seemed to have faltered.  Mac
eventually won the fourth 6-2.   Mary Carillo commented
that Nargiso had given a little bit of trouble to Courier
by taking a set during the Olympics, but fell apart.

    Oh, yes, Courier beat Chesnokov in four sets, the
third set was 6-3, and the fourth was 6-1.   Seems that
Courier has had slow starts in two rounds.  David Wheaton
beat his doubles partner Jared Palmer, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0.

    Tomorrow night, Seles should be playing, and Lendl
will face Connors.  Connors said last night (Wednesday)
that even if he loses, it doesn't bother him as long as
he felt that he played well.  Connors hasn't beaten
Lendl in nearly 8 years, dating back to 1984.  Connors
feels that he needs to stay close, and then he has a chance.
Also, tomorrow, Chang will face Patrick McEnroe on the
Grandstand (first match) while Agassi faces Roig in the
Stadium court.

    I should comment that CBS seems to be doing
a decent job with its night coverage, devoting some
half an hour each night, and going late several times
to see the conclusion of the Courier match and the
McEnroe match tonight.  NBC's coverage of Wimbledon
seems scant by comparison (usually 15 minutes of
highlights).   It helps that CBS can cover the match
live.

   Also, can anyone figure out what is going on with
the Reebok commercial?  They are televising some
new shoe called Hardcourt, and in it they show
some training camp for tennis that looks more like
a training camp for football.  They have people diving
for shots, and all sorts of bizarre things.

    Finally,  Aaron Krickstein, who is out of the US
Open with an injury (and recent operation to his leg)
has been at the Open supporting his pal, Brad Gilbert.
Krickstein can't walk yet (without crutches) and
thinks that it will take at least two more months of
rehabilitation.   He is still training his upper body,
but probably won't make his first appearance until the
Australian Open next year.   It was mentioned in some
Tennis magazine article that Krickstein was hard to
interview, and was pretty shy.   However, in the
interview I saw,  Krickstein seemed pretty talkative.
Maybe he is trying to change that.  He talked about how
he felt being at the Open, not playing, how he is
doing personally, that he is supporting Brad, and that
he thinks that Agassi and Sampras are the ones most
likely to win the Open.

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu