My third and last visit to the US Open this year was on the second Thursday, September 8. This time, I actually bought tickets with my uncle Martin. This leads to the first of my three questions/suggestions:

1. When I ordered the tickets, there was an additional charge for having them e-mailed to me as a PDF file. Now, we just know that Ticketmaster is saving money when it can e-mail the tickets rather than print them up, stick them in an envelope, and put them in snail mail. So why would Ticketmaster charge me extra for the privilege? Because it is a monopoly, or at least an oligopoly. Why isn't Eliot Spitzer investigating this? And why isn't the USTA looking for a more fan- friendly way to do business?

2. Speaking of fan-friendly, couldn't the USTA do more business, and provide more enjoyment for fans, by going from two sessions per day to two and a half? What do I mean? In the first week of the Open, at least, the day session regularly goes past 9:00 p.m. Why not sell a grounds pass that is good from 6:00 p.m. till the conclusion of play, perhaps for $15? By 6:00 p.m., the day crowd is thinning, and there is room on the non-Ashe show courts, not to mention the bigger outside courts like Court 11, for more people. What's more, a post-6:00 p.m. ticket will be attractive for those who cannot get away during the work day, and I doubt it would cannibalize the market for night session tickets, since some fans want to see the marquee names in Ashe.

3. Finally, why have Armstrong and the Grandstand been shut down since after Labor Day? I understand that there are fewer matches to be played in the second week, and certainly fewer with headline names. But it couldn't hurt to give serious doubles players a decent stage. The women's doubles semifinals were played on Thursday on Courts 7 and 11. Would it have been so terrible to play them on Armstrong and the Grandstand? While we're at it, if grounds passes were available after Labor Day, there would have been a good turnout for those matches.

And thus to Thursday's matches. During the changeovers at Ashe, there often is classic rock music, much of it from the Beatles. My theme of Thursday - a brilliantly clear and warm day - was a variation on a Beatles title: "I'll Follow the Shade." I was not the only one. The first match on Ashe was a men's doubles semifinal between the first- and fourth-seeded teams. Perhaps 5,000 fans were there for the conclusion, and far fewer for the start. The fans congregated on the south side of the stadium, huddling in the shade provided by the looming press box. My uncle and I started out in our assigned seats in Section 305 (you may see a seating chart for Ashe at http://www.usopen.org/en_US/images/misc/ashe.jpg ), and we migrated west as the day went on, staying out of the sun. The big flag on Ashe was at half-mast, presumably for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The top seeds were Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi, and their opponents were the fourth seeds, Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyet. The winner of this match was to take on the Bryan brothers in the doubles final. Bjorkman was the only one of the players to venture into the sun without a baseball cap. He was serving at 5-5, 30-30 when the wheels came off. First, an Ullyet return elicited an error from Mirnyi's backhand volley for break point. Then Bjorkman hit a backhand volley long, and the set was there for the taking by the Zimbabweans. The diminutive Black, 5'7" on a good day but occasionally serving at 120 mph or better, served the set out at 30. On set point, Bjorkman and Mirnyi ended up on the same side of the court, and Ullyet hit a forehand volley to the other side, winning the first set 7-5.

In the second set, Black faced a crisis when he served at 3-4, 0-30. But Mirnyi netted a backhand return and then Ullyet took over, winning three points with an outstanding backhand volley off a poach, a forehand drop volley (how often can you do that in doubles?), and a winning backhand volley off a long exchange with Mirnyi. In the following game, Mirnyi, serving at 4-4, fell behind 15-40 with a forehand volley into the net. A 131 mph ace got him to 30-40, but he then netted a backhand volley, giving Black and Ullyet a key break.

Ullyet reached match point on his serve at 5-4, 40-30. Bjorkman hit a great inside-out forehand return of serve for a clean winner and deuce. Mirnyi then clubbed a backhand return of second serve at Black's body, and Black's forehand volley found the net. On break point, Black hit a forehand volley long, and the top seeds had dodged a major bullet.

It took three deuces before Bjorkman was able to hold serve for a 6-5 lead in the second set. In the twelfth game, a long exchange with the four players at the net concluded when Bjorkman chased down a lob and hit a brilliant backhand crosscourt for a winner. Black, the server, double-faulted at 30-30; on set point, Bjorkman went back to his inside-out forehand return of serve for a winner and the match was tied.

In the third set, Bjorkman got in trouble when he served in the 1-1 game. A Black return of serve nearly severed Mirnyi's head, and the score was 0-30. But the top seeds won four straight points to escape danger.

The first break of the set came in the sixth game, with Ullyet serving at 2-3. He fell behind 0-40 but scrambled back to 30-40. On the third break point, a Mirnyi backhand volley drew a long forehand volley from Ullyet for the break and a 4-2 lead. Bjorkman and Mirnyi, having just been on the verge of elimination, were now in control, and they made no mistakes. With Black serving at 2-5, 15-15, the top seeds stepped on the gas. At 15-15, Mirnyi sneaked a forehand return up the alley for a winner. Bjorkman followed with a crosscourt backhand that found the open court as Ullyet was poaching in the other direction, and now it was 15-40: two match points. Mirnyi's backhand return of Black's second serve landed in the net for 30-40. Ullyet hit Mirnyi with a forehand volley for deuce. Ullyet cut off a Mirnyi return with a forehand volley winner for the advantage. But Black netted a backhand volley; Mirnyi's heavy forehand passing shot drew a forehand volley error from Ullyet; and Bjorkman nailed a backhand return of serve crosscourt for a winner and the match, 5-7 7-5 6- 2.

I then watched a little bit of senior doubles between the Jensen brothers and the volatile/voluble team of Jeff Tarango and Brad Gilbert. Luke Jensen served left-handed into both the deuce and ad courts, though I've heard he sometimes serves ambidextrously. After the serve, he played right-handed. Murphy Jensen is a solid doubles player with a dependable two-handed backhand. I stayed for a few games, enough to hear Gilbert exclaim, after his double-fault leveled the first set at 4-4: "Sorry, Jeff. Darn it!" Let's be glad that Brad kept it clean for the kids. The Jensens went on to win 7-6(5) 6-2.

My next stop was Court 11 to see the American junior Sam Querrey, seeded thirteenth in the boys' singles, take on the third-seeded Argentine Leonardo Mayer. In the ATP rankings, Mayer is at no. 1165 and Querrey at no. 910. These are both good players who look like professionals, though I have a devil of a time trying to predict which juniors will become good pros. Both serve in the 120s and both tend to play well behind the baseline, Querrey with two hands on the backhand, Mayer with one. Mayer's topspin backhand is a fluid stroke that might not be quite as elegant as Richard Gasquet's, but he's obviously comfortable hitting it.

I climbed to the top row of seats, where there is protection from the sun. There, I saw the players hold serve throughout the first set. Querrey opened the tiebreak with a 125 mph ace. Mayer's second serve then drew a long forehand return by Querrey for 1-1. Querrey hit a forehand wide for a 2-1 Mayer lead. On his own serve, Querrey hit another forehand wide, and the mini-break made it 3-1. On the next point, Querrey moved Mayer around the court and ultimately drew a forehand lob that went long for 3-2. But Mayer kept taking care of business. He served a 111 mph ace up the T, past Querrey's forehand, for 4-2, and Querrey netted a forehand for 5-2. Querrey climbed back to 5-3 when he elicited a short return of serve and put away a backhand, but his next service point resulted in a long rally that ended with a Querrey forehand sailing wide for 6-3 and three set points. Mayer squandered the first set point on his serve with a forehand into the net for 6-4, but he hit a winning backhand pass up the line for 7-4 and the set. I left at that point. The final score showed Mayer winning 7-6(4) 7-6(3).

I returned to the Stadium for the conclusion of the mixed doubles final. When I returned, Daniela Hantuchova was serving for the match at 6-4 5-2. Her partner was Mahesh Bhupathi; the opponents were Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjic. Hantuchova, who stayed back after serving, immediately fell behind 0-40, but she and Bhupathi won five straight points, the latter two on poaches by Bhupathi. A red carpet was rolled out for the trophy presentation, perhaps to protect the court from the shoes of the suits presenting the checks and trophies. Tracy Austin noted that the win made for a career grand slam in mixed doubles for Hantuchova. I would not have guessed that.

My uncle and I stayed in Ashe to watch the men's quarterfinal between Lleyton Hewitt and Jarkko Nieminen. This was a strange match, in that it went five sets but was concluded in 2 hours and 26 minutes. The assumption was that Hewitt would win easily, but that's not exactly how it went. Still, by the time his 2-6 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-1 victory was complete, I wonder how much energy he had burned.

In the first set, the southpaw Nieminen -- cheered on by some face-painted Finnish fans (though Hewitt's Aussie fans were louder) -- saved two break points to hold for 2-2, broke at 15 for a 3-2 lead, and broke again for 5-2. He came back from 0-30 to serve out the set on his third set point.

Hewitt ran off the first five games of the second set before Nieminen held at love. Hewitt held at 15 to win the set and square the match.

Hewitt ran into trouble in the eighth game of the third set. At 30-30, he hit a forehand volley long, and Nieminen followed up with a great backhand up the line for the break. Nieminen held at love for the set.

Serving at 0-1 30-40 in the fourth set, Nieminen executed a rare serve-and-volley. His backhand drop half-volley went wide for the break. Nieminen had three break points in the ensuing game, but Hewitt held for 3-0. In the fifth game, Nieminen stumbled and fell while chasing a drop shot, but he was uninjured and went on. Hewitt served for the set at 5-3, and fell behind 0-30. But Hewitt won four straight points, the last one with a strong inside-out forehand that drew a weak forehand reply into the net.

Nieminen had the advantage of serving first in the fifth set, but it didn't last long: he was broken at 30 with a Hewitt forehand pass up the line. In the third game, Nieminen was broken again, squandering a 40-15 lead. At 0-4, Nieminen finally held, but only after fighting off five break points. That was the last game he was to win, as Hewitt broke again in the seventh game with a forehand volley that closed out the match.

I then caught a few games of a boys' doubles match on Court 13, with Alex Clayton and Donald Young facing Kellen Damico and Tim Smyczek, all of the US. Clayton and Young, the eighth seeds, had taken the first set 6-1, but the second set was tight. My primary interest was to see the highly touted Young, a lefty with a two-handed backhand. I can't claim to know his future based on seeing him play a few games of doubles, but I was not overwhelmed. He (like the other players) often stayed back on second serve, which suggested a discomfort at the net. He got frustrated easily. And I didn't see obviously brilliant strokes, like the Gasquet backhand that was so impressive even when he was a junior. To be fair, there is less of an opportunity to show off one's groundstrokes in a doubles match, but maybe the jury should stay out on Young till he wins a set on the pro tour. Young and Clayton ended up winning this match, 6-1 7-6(5).

My final stop was to catch, at Court 11, the final set tiebreak in the women's doubles semifinal between Virginia Ruano-Pascual and the ageless Conchita Martinez and their opponents, Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur. I craned to see what I could over the rows of fans in front of me on the walkway. Raymond and Stosur won the tiebreak easily, 7-2; at the same time, on Court 7, Elena Dementieva and Flavia Pennetta were defeating Martina Navratilova and Anna-Lena Groenfeld in the other semifinal.

I look forward to returning to the Open in 2006, and maybe we'll have answers to some of my three questions above. Maybe the doubles game will survive the ATP's depredations, too. Let's hope so.

(c) Jerome Balsam