PETE ZIEBRON in PHOENIX
The new look Center Court at the Arizona Tennis Classic. Pete Ziebron Images
The Thursday Center Court day session lineup at the Arizona Tennis Classic at the Phoenix Country Club featured several colorful veteran players, including: Benoit Paire, Fabio Fognini and Thanasi Kokkinakis. Prior to his match, Paire was watching a portion of his countryman, Quentin Halys, playing on Court 1 in his win over American Qualifier Emilio Nava. Despite winning the first two games of the match against defending Champion Nuno Borges, the Frenchman dropped the next four games and Retired, sending Borges into the quarterfinals after only twenty minutes on court.
The new stadium seating configuration at the Phoenix County Club now allows some spectators on the east side of Center Court to watch concurrent action on Court 2. With the Paire retirement, I was able tp watch some of the French battle between Luca van Assche and Constant Lestienne. Unfortunately, after less than ten minutes following the Paire retirement, Lestienne fell behind the baseline and was not able to continue. That match lasted 22 minutes and van Assche was ahead 4-1.
Next up on Center Court, Fognini took on Australian Aleksandar Vukic, who battled Novak Djokovic into a third set last week in Indian Wells. While the Italian struggled with six double faults, Vukic won 91% of his first serve points and trounced Fognini 6-1 6-1 in 52 minutes. In the last match on Center Court in the day session, Kokkinakis defeated Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-1 2-6 6-4
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