The Official Icherri U.S. Open Report (from Wednesday's games)

It was an exciting lineup, we learned as we stepped off the subway. Hantuchova, Hewitt, Kuerten, S. Williams, Sharapova.. big names! But not the medium name that I was looking forward to: James Blake. Apparently he's out with a virus. Sadness. The one year I go to the U.S. Open.. I guess this means I'll be going next year!

In any case, the air was ripe with the scent of overpriced food and I was just plain excited. We took our seats up in the nosebleeds in Arthur Ashe and watched Hantuchova beat down her opponent. Then Hewitt came out. I used to be such a fan, then the whole James Blake affair happened.. In any case, it was still pretty exciting to see him, even if he was basically a tiny speck. His match with Ferreira started and you could see right away who was going to win. Ferreira just seemed to have no fight in him at all. We left before the match ended however, as we had to get seats for the Kuerten v. Pless showdown.

The sun was painful. Luckily, we scored some seats in the shade after the Spadea v. Horna match, which was fiery, nothing like the Hantuchova and Hewitt matches which were pretty much domination by the aforementioned two. Near the end, Horna was hitting his own head more than the ball. Finally, Guga Kuerten came out! So cute. I took photographs, which I will post as soon as I can. He always looks as though he's smiling. He grew his hair out again!

In any case, Pless was a worthy opponent (and also kind of cute), held up against the rampant cheering and Brazil flag-waving for Guga which you gotta admire. Plus, he's Danish. Okay, I don't know what that means. Anyway, the match was a great match, very well-played. Most of us left in the middle to go see Serena, cause, let's face it, she's Serena. I was very disappointed with the crowd, who kept cheering on her opponent, Lee-Waters, a typically pretty blonde who had a squeaky grunt. Serena looked great in a black two piecer with rhinestones attached. Or maybe they were diamonds. Who knows, with her wealth?

After we watched Serena murder Lee-Waters (I was gleeful), we headed back for more Kuerten action. We were just in time to see the tie break ending--man was it a tiebreak. Seriously, the judge had a really bad call on one of the important points. Baaad call. But Pless won, deservedly, and the crowd applauded him.

We were all getting kind of tired at this point, and Maliha headed back with her brother. But before the rest of us left, we had to see the legendary Maria Sharapova, she of the post-Anna Kournikova fame. I took photos of her also, jammed between many men talking about her hotness. A little odd, to say the least.

Suzanne knew someone playing in the U.S. Open--Uberoi, so we went to see her doubles match. She was playing with her sister and they were pretty goshdarn good. Then yesterday we saw her on TV playing Venus. It was weird/cool.

So there you have it. I also bought my sister an overpriced t-shirt and ate some of Arney's overpriced nachos.

Today is the last day of full time work. Joy joy. Long weekend ahead--tax free shopping as well!