No. 3 seed Sam Querrey of Santa Monica, Calif. beat No. 2 seed and two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro of France 6-3, 7-6(2) Saturday in the semifinals of the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Querrey put in 70 percent of his first serve, nailed 18 aces and never had to save a break point on his serve in sending Santoro to his first defeat in 13 matches since he won here in 2007 and prevailed again in 2008.
Querrey will meet Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., Sunday afternoon at 2 in the first All-American final since 2002.

Campbell Hall of Fame Tennis Championships

Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., beat Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-4 in the first semifinal on Saturday in the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Ram only got into the 32-player draw as a lucky loser. When No. 1 seed Mardy Fish pulled out to replace Andy Roddick on the U.S. Davis Cup team, Ram filled his spot because he was the highest-rated player among the losers in the qualifiers.
Ram will face the winner of the Fabrice Santoro-Sam Querrey match.

Ram tough

Rajeev Ram just became the first "lucky loser" to reach the semifinals in the history of this tournament. He beat fellow American Jesse Levine in a third-set tiebreaker on Court 1 (the second match of the day for both players).

No time to celebrate for the Indiana native, though. He's got a doubles match with partner Jordan Kerr coming up. Three matches in one day. Ouch.

USA! USA!

Five Americans have won their second-round matches today. That's the most since five reached the third round (the quarterfinals) in 2002.
The five are Sam Querrey, Jesse Levine, Kevin Kim, Rajeev Ram and Brendan Evans.
Also reaching the quarters are formidable Frenchmen Fabrice Santoro and Nicolas Mahut and Olivier Rochus of Belgium.
Santoro is the two-time defending champion. He beat Mahut in the 2007 final.
Something's got to give: they meet later today for the right to advance to the semis on Saturday.

Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships update

Singles play is scheduled to begin on Court 2 at 3:45 with Rajeev Ram against Alejandro Falla. At 4 on Stadium Court, Kevin Kim and Sebastian Grosjean will finish their suspended match.
The plan is to get the six remaining first-round singles matched completed today.

Action has started ... sort of

More than three hours after it was supposed to begin, action is under way at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

Alexander Peya and Philipp Petzschner, both of whom are still alive in the singles draw, are playing Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo and Santiago Ventura, both of whom were eliminated in the first round, in doubles action.

No word on when singles matches will take place. Looks like this could be another very long day at the Newport Casino.

Westmoreland knocks first pro homer

Former Portsmouth High School star Ryan Westmoreland hit his first professional home run on Wednesday night, leading the Lowell Spinners, the Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, to a 9-0 victory over the Tri-City Valley Cats.

Batting cleanup behind Boston shortstop Jed Lowrie, who was making a rehab start in Lowell, Westmoreland drove a pitch down the right-field line in the fifth inning off Tri-City reliever Justin Harper for a three-run homer.

"It was good to see him pull a ball like that," Lowell manager Gary DiSarcina told the Lowell Sun. "It was a fastball in, and he got the head out and turned and burned on it."

Westmoreland finished the day 1-for-3 with two runs scored and four RBIs. For the season, he’s hitting .286 with a team-leading 12 RBIs.

Campbell's update on starting times

THURSDAY COURT CONDITIONS UPDATE



NEWPORT, RI – Heavy rain on Wednesday evening has forced a delay in the start of play on Thursday at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships. Here is an update on the court conditions as of 10:30 a.m. on Thursday:



Stadium Court – Play will not begin on Stadium before noon on Thursday.



Courts 1-3 – Play will begin on all three courts at 11:30 a.m.



A reminder that patrons holding tickets for Wednesday may use them on Thursday for a grounds pass admission.

Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships

More bang for your buck today. Twenty matches scheduled for your viewing pleasure.
The action at Stadium Court is set to begin as usual this morning at 11. The outside courts get going even earlier, beginning at 10:30.

Great Expectations

The inclement weather plaguing the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships has forced tournament officials to schedule 20 matches for Thursday.
“This is going to be posted up in the Hall of Fame,” quipped tournament media director Peter Holtermann.
No. seed Fabrice Santoro will have to survive a busy day to keep his hopes alive of a third straight crown. His match with Flavio Cipolla of Italy, 3-3 in the first set, resumes as the second match on Court 2.
The winner will play Taylor Dent, the 2002 champion, in the fourth match on Stadium Court.

Campbell's concludes Wednesday in soupy conditions

No. 2 seed and two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro of France was to serve against Flavio Cipolla of Italy at 3-3 in the first set on Court 1 when play was halted at 6:03 p.m. for the day because of lightning and the threat of rain (which soon came).
The matches join five other first-round matches scheduled to be completed today.

Querrey cruises

Sam Querrey, the No. 3 seed, just finished off Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-3, 6-2.

Next up on the only court available today is fan favorite and two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro. Let's hope his match is uninterrupted. There are some nasty looking clouds heading this way.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Court update

Tournament officials at 4:25 p.m. determined there would be no matches on Stadium Court.
"Our concern remains on the skirt in the southwest corner," said Mark Stenning, CEO of the Hall of Fame. "There's still water coming up when we're standing."
Tournament officials also checked the other two areas where a court can be put down in Stadium Court. "Throughout the day they've been wet, and they remain wetter," said Stenning, who added that play will continue on Court 1 "until 8 o'clock or as late was we can."
No. 3 seed Sam Querrey just won the first set 6-3 against Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo on Court 1. At the conclusion of that match, No. 2 seed and two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro will face Flavio Cipolla.
The plan is to use three outside courts in addition to the Stadium Court on Thursday.
The first matches on court will be the suspended matches between Kevin Kim and Sebastien Grosjean as well as the one between Ricardo Mello and Samuel Groth.
The remaining three first-round matches will also be played early Thursday, with second-round matches to follow.

Wednesday's tickets will be good for Thursday grounds passes.

Still no matches on Stadium Court

There will be another reassessment of the condition of the Stadium Court at 4:15.
"When you pressure down with flat shoes in the southwest section of the court there's water coming out," said Mark Stenning, CEO of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. "What we'd like to be able to do today is finish the Kevin Kim-Sebastien Grosjean match that started yesterday.
"My guess is that Fabrice Santoro (the No. 2 seed and two-time defending champion)could end up on an outside court (after No. 3 Sam Querrey faces Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo).
Court 2 (due to water on the back fringes) is unplayable. There will be players scheduled for Court 2 who may have to double up on Thursday or Friday.

Hall of Fame Tennis update

Here's the latest on the postponements. A wet patch on the south part of Stadium Court means tournament officials will assess the condition at 3 p.m.

Campbell's cancellations

The six doubles matches scheduled for today have been cancelled because of the wet conditions on the courts, especially outside the lines.

Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships

No. 6 seed Philipp Petzschner of Germany advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 6-7(4)_, 6-2 win against Horacio Zeballos of Argentina on Court 1 to complete a match that was halted on Tuesday because of rain.
That rain has meant the matches on Stadium Court are now not expected to resume today until 2:30 p.m. and on Court 2 at 2.

All aTwitter

he all-American doubles match today between Justin Gimelstob/Jesse Levine and Taylor Dent/David Martin could be a communications breakthrough.
“The rules are you can’t use an electronic, mechanical or mobile device,” Gimelstob said, “so what I’m going to do is have one of my buddies (tournament media director Peter Holtermann) sitting right by the court with my phone.
“I’ll do what I normally do, which is not shut up and have a running commentary during the match, giving him little anecdotes.
“At the changeover I can write little notes and give them to the ball kids to hand over.
“It will be put on my Twitter page (twitter.com/justingimelstob) – the first-ever Twitter by proxy during a sporting event.”

The only game in town

No. 6 seed Philipp Petzschner and Horacio Zeballos just started the third set of their match on Court 1 in front of, quite possibly, the biggest crowd ever to watch a match on Court 1.

Why? Well, it's because that's the only court that's playable right now. The Hall of Fame grounds crew is in the process of drying out center court, and Court 2 is a little too soggy outside the lines. Somehow, Court 1 survived Tuesday's onslaught of rain and, at present, is the only place to see some Hall of Fame Championships action.

We could be here a while. Stay tuned.

Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships

The first match on Stadium Court today, a first-round match resumed from Tuesday, has been delayed because the court is still drying out. It looks as of now it will have a noon start.

Wednesday's schedule

Here's the schedule for Wednesday's session at the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport. Play begins at 11 a.m. and runs continuously.

Stadium Court
- Sebastien Grosjean leads No. 7 Kevin Kim
- Flavio Cipolla vs. No. 2 Fabrice Santoro
- Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo vs. No. 3 Sam Querrey
- Justin Gimelstob/Jesse Levine vs. Taylor Dent/David Martin
- Jordan Kerr/Rajeev Ram vs. Arnaud Clement/Olivier Rochus

Court 1
- No. 6 Philipp Petzschner leads Horiacio Zeballos
- No. 5 Arnaud Clement vs. Alex Bogomolov Jr.
- Amer Delic vs. Nicolas Mahut
- Rik de Voest/Ashley Fisher vs. Sebastian Prieto/Horacio Zeballos
- Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo/ Santiago Ventura vs. Philipp Petzschner/Alexander Peya
- Frank Moser/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi vs. Michael Kohlmann/Rogier Wassen

Court 2
- Samuel Groth leads Ricardo Mello
- Rajeev Ram vs. Alejandro Falla
- Olivier Rochus vs. Alexander Peya
- Frank Dancevic vs. No. 8 Sergiy Stakhovsky
- Benjamin Becker/Daniel Brands vs. Flavio Cipolla/Marcos Daniel

Mother Nature wins out

A little more tennis was played in between rain delays, enough for Sebastien Grosjean to win the first set against No. 7 Kevin Kim. He broke Kim in the 10th game for a 6-4 victory.

The duo was deuce in the first game of the second set when the rain got to be too much. So 51 minutes into Day 2, and we're all done.

And we're back!

A little less than an hour after play was suspended, and we're playing tennis here at the Hall of Fame. Sebastien Grosjean leads Kevin Kim 4-3 with Kim serving in the first set.

Fore!

While waiting out the rain delay, Sam Querrey and his intern, Dan Farrugia (yes, apparently Querrey has an intern) have taken to playing tennis golf, a game they no doubt invented today.

They roll a tennis ball across the practice courts that acts as the hole. Then they each hit another ball off the ground with their rackets toward the "hole," and eventually, they have to hit the ball acting as the hole with their ball. Not sure what par is, but neither player is putting particularly well. That seems a little odd, since there shouldn't be much of a break on any of these putts.

Hey, what else are they supposed to do when there's no tennis to be played?

29 minutes

That's how much time Kevin Kim and Sebastien Grosjean spent on Stadium Court before play was suspended, again, because of rain. The two were on serve, with Grosjean, a wild card, leading 4-3 in the first set. Shortly after Grosjean held serve in the seventh game, the rain came down and, shortly thereafter, it was announced that the match was suspended. There's no timetable to resume the matches as of yet, but the rain appears to have stopped. So hopefully players will be back on the courts momentarily.

Serve's up!

It's official: A 1:30 start time, with a moment of silence for Mathieu Montcourt, a French player who died overnight at the age of 24. His cause of death is not known at this time.

Things still on hold at HOF

The weather has pushed back second-day action past 1 p.m., and no matches will be played until at least 1:30, according to tournament director and Hall of Fame CEO Mark Stenning. He said, however, that things should be clearing up and matches likely will take place.

"We have a good long-range weather forecast, and have every reason to believe we'll get some matches in today," Stenning said.

Should things get rained out completely, fans won't be left all wet.

"In the unlikely occurence that we rain out completley today, we'll be able to bring everyone back tomorrow," Stenning said.

weather delay at newport casino

The first of the last 10 first-round matches on Tuesday in the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Chamnpionships have moved back to noon from 11 a.m. because of foggy, wet weather.

Amritraj rolling once again

Prakash Amritraj, who advanced to the final of the Hall of Fame Championships last year before falling to Fabrice Santoro, cruised past Danai Udomchoke 6-1, 6-4 in the first round on Monday at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Taylor Dent, who reached as high as No. 21 in the rankings before two back surgeries sidelined his career, also won on Monday, beating Marcos Daniel 6-2, 6-1.

The upset of the day was No. 4 seed Benjamin Becker of Germany losing in three sets to American Brendan Evans, 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5. Becker double faulted on match point. In an all-American match, Jesse Levine downed Chris Guccione 7-6(2), 7-6(2).
American Vince Spadea, who advanced to the semifinals here a year ago, lost to Daniel Brands of Germany 6-0, 6-4.

Check Tuesday's edition of The Daily News for a full recap of Monday's action.

Fish out of tournament

Mardy Fish, slated to be the top seed this week at the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, has dropped out and will replace Andy Roddick on the U.S. Davis Cup team. Roddick was injured on Sunday during his five-set loss to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon men’s final.

Fish raised his world ranking to No. 23 on Monday, and he’s the third-highest ranked American behind Roddick and James Blake. He lost in the third round at Wimbledon, and his return to Newport would have been his eighth appearance.

“I’m certainly disappointed to have to miss Newport this year,” Fish said. “It’s a great event that I enjoy playing and I look forward to returning there again soon. I’m honored to be selected to represent the United States in Davis Cup again and am excited to join the team in Croatia.

“Obviously Andy had a very difficult match on Sunday in the Wimbledon final, and I know this was a very hard decision for him to make. I hope I can help make him proud this weekend.”

Tournament Director and Hall of Fame CEO Mark Stenning said Monday there won’t be a No. 1 seed. Second-seeded and two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro is now the highest ranked player. Taking Fish’s place will be a player from the qualifying draw.
“Obviously we’re disappointed that Mardy won’t be back,” Stenning told The Daily News. “He’s been one of the more loyal players, but it’s also a terrific opportunity for him to join the Davis Cup team.”

Stenning said he’s had late withdrawls in the past, but added that this is a unique circumstance.

“We’ve had guys pull out at the last minute over the final weekend, but this is a special situation where they’re not pulling out because they’re injured,” he said. “They’re pulling out because the Davis Cup team needs them.”