Atc Around The World

Hewitt cruises in first round at ATC

Hewitt said a combination of never having seen Simmonds and Tuesday's hot conditions contributed to his bumpy beginning. Because temperatures surpassed 93 degrees, Hewitt said the balls were bouncing higher and traveling further they normally would. Once he got used to that, he was able to begin to move Simmonds around the court and neutralize his preferred weapon, the first serve. Simmonds, a qualifier, won 70 percent of his first-serve points, compared with Hewitt’s 89 percent. “I served smarter as I went on, which made things a bit easier for me,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt, a two-time Grand Slam winner and former world No. 1, is trying to battle back from a variety of injuries. He had foot surgery in March that has necessitated the spot use of injections and pain-killers, but said he “felt pretty good out there today.”

Hewitt next will face the winner of the match between qualifier Rajeev Ram and fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.

Sixth seed loses

Australia’s Marinko Matosevic, a qualifier, pulled off the second upset at the ATC when he dumped sixth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn 6-7 (3), 6-2, 7-5.

Matosevic, who hadn’t won an ATP-level match outside of qualifiers this year, was broken while serving for the match. He broke back and then served for the match to improve to 1-6 this year. He will face Yen-Hsun Lu in the second round. Lu defeated Matthias Bachinger 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Tuesday.

“To win my first one was good,” Matosevic said.

Matosevic fired 10 aces, including four in the final set and back-to-back rockets to end the final game.

Series within a series

Starting within this week’s Atlanta Tennis Championships is the Olympus U.S. Open Series, a group of hard-court tournaments (five men’s, four women’s, one combined) that lead to the U.S. Open.

The series was started in 2004 as an attempt to galvanize TV audiences and local tennis communities, according to Tim Curry, director of corporate communications for the United States Tennis Association.

It seems to be working. More than 1.6 million people in North America attended series events last year, a 10 percent increase compared with the same events in 2003.

The changes have been cosmetic (blue tennis courts) and financial. In 2007, Roger Federer collected the biggest paycheck in tennis history when he won the U.S. Open and the U.S. Open Series, taking home $2.4 million.

Pineapple Cove: Artist Trading Card (ATC)

In 1997, M. Vanci Stirnemann, a Swiss artist, created 1200 cards by hand as part of an exhibit. On the last day, he invited others to create their own cards and trade with him during the closing reception. After that, the movement took off as other artists organized major "swap" events! Today, there are ATC swaps in almost every major city around the world, as well as online. I had a lot of fun creating my card. I found it to be quick & easy, but at the same time, a bit of a challenge. I loved the fact that I can use all my little scraps since your canvas is only 2.5" x 3.5". So this made it fast to put together. But at the same time, the small size also proved to be a bit of a challenge. For my first try, I was happy with the results. I kept it clean and simple...adding a touch of washi paper, distress ink and smooch ink.

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