NOTEBOOK
Soldering on: With top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne on the other side of the net, serving for the match, Tzipi Obziler pulled a stunner. The 31-year-old qualifier, making her Open debut, broke the No. 1 player in the world and then did it again to steal a set. Henin-Hardenne went on to a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory in no ordinary match. But then, Obziler is not an ordinary player. She was the only veteran of the Israeli Army in this tournament. "I worked in the defense department," she said. "That's the department that deals with the Lebanon issues. It was a very, very, very good experience for me. I just say every day thanks that I've been in this kind of situation in the Army. It helps a lot."
Golden swing: Latin America's four major men's tennis tournaments will combine their efforts, pooling television rights and other commercial aspects, to promote the "Golden Swing" -- or La Gira de Oro -- of the ATP schedule beginning next year. The clay-court events in Vina del Mar, Chile, Jan. 31-Feb. 6; Buenos Aires, Argentina, Feb. 7-13; Costa do Suipe, Brazil, Feb. 14-20; and Acapulco, Mexico, Feb. 21-27 are hoping to attract a single sponsor for the segment of the ATP tour, which commences after the conclusion of the Australian Open in the middle of the Southern Hemisphere summer.
Tennis on the tube: The US Open Series was a television ratings winner for the USTA. The Series, introduced this summer, comprised 10 North American hard-court events on the ATP and WTA tours. ESPN broadcast nine hours with a 75 percent increase in overall household viewership compared with the network's coverage of the same tournaments in 2003. ESPN2, which broadcast nearly 90 hours of the Series, had an increase of 43 percent in viewership.
Associated Press