Former World No.1 Lindsay Davenport To Return to New Haven

Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport, who has three Grand Slam singles and
three Grand Slam doubles titles on her resume, will return to New Haven,
where she won the 2005 Pilot Pen tournament in August.

NEW HAVEN—The 2018 Connecticut Open announced today that Hall of Fame Inductee Lindsay Davenport will be the guest speaker at the sixth annual Anthem Girls Symposium. More than 100 female high school student-athletes throughout the state of Connecticut are expected to attend on Monday, August 20, and will have the opportunity to engage with Davenport as she speaks on the important role of sports in her personal and professional life.

 

Davenport, the 2005 Connecticut Open champion and a five-time finalist here, won 55 singles titles and 38 doubles titles in her 17-year career. That includes singles titles at the U.S. Open (1998), Wimbledon (1999) and the Australian Open (2000). She has won three Grand Slam doubles titles: the French Open (1996), the U.S. Open (1997), and Wimbledon (1999). Davenport will take part in a fan-friendly doubles exhibition following the tournament’s first singles night session.

“I always love coming back to New Haven,” said Davenport, an Olympic gold medalist. “Being invited to take part in this symposium that focuses on all the good things sport can bring to our lives is a wonderful opportunity and hopefully I can have an impact on these young female athletes. I have a lot of good memories from playing in six finals here, so it will be great to be back out on Stadium Court.”

The 2018 Anthem Girls Symposium at the Connecticut Open sponsored by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut entitled “Championing Your Own Success” will be held at the Courtside Club at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale. The forum was created by the Connecticut Open in 2013 in partnership with CIAC to provide an informative and engaging forum for female student athletes competing in Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) schools.

“At Anthem, we are working to ensure all Americans have an opportunity to live a healthier life. Our collaboration with the Connecticut Open further supports Anthem’s efforts to foster a greater awareness with today’s youth about the benefits of leading a healthier lifestyle and how that can positively impact their future,” said Jill Hummel, president, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “We are excited to be back at the Connecticut Open and bring to the community an influential female athlete to share personal insights, advice and inspiration to local female student athletes.”

At the completion of the symposium, all attendees are invited to enjoy the afternoon of tennis matches at the WTA Premier event, which takes place from August 17-25 as the tournament celebrates 21 years of women’s professional tennis in New Haven.

“We are excited to host the Anthem Girls Symposium again this year,” said Tournament Director Anne Worcester. “It fits directly with our non-profit mission to benefit the community and what better way to inspire female student-athletes, than bringing them out to learn from Lindsay, one of the top female athletes in the world and is also currently coaching US Open finalist Madison Keys.”

Tickets for the 2018 Connecticut Open are available at CTOpen.org/Tickets or by calling the box office at 1-855-464-8366.  Individual session tickets start at $25 for adults and $15 for children 14 and younger.  Multi-session packages are available online or through the box office and offer up to 24 percent savings including:

• AFTER HOURS (all evening sessions and Saturday’s final)
• PICK 4 (four sessions of your choice from Sunday through Thursday)
• FINAL 4 (the last four sessions including Thursday night’s quarterfinal and men’s legends, Friday’s semifinals and men’s legends and Saturday’s finals).
• Week-long box seats, which offer more than 45 percent savings versus individual session prices, may be purchased through the box office only. Tickets for Beer Fest at the Connecticut Open on Saturday, August 25 are available at bit.ly/BeerFestatCTO. 

In addition, a $10 discount is being offered for Opening Night by using code CO18LINDSAY online at www.CTOpen.org/Tickets or by calling the tournament box office at 1-855-464-8366 before 5 p.m. on Friday, June 29. 

About Connecticut Open

The Connecticut Open is a WTA tournament held at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale featuring a 30-player singles main draw, a 48-player qualifying draw and a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $799,000. The 2017 title was won by Australia’s Daria Gavrilova, who collected her maiden WTA trophy as the tournament celebrated 20 years of women’s tennis in New Haven. Past champions include Steffi Graf, Lindsay Davenport (2 titles), Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams (4), Justine Henin, Caroline Wozniacki (4) and Petra Kvitova (3). As a not-for-profit 501c3 charitable organization, the Connecticut Open’s mission is to leverage the excitement of world-class women’s tennis to benefit the local community and maximize support for women’s, youth and other causes. The tournament also generates $10+ million in regional economic impact. The Connecticut Open is prominently featured domestically through 50+ hours on ESPN2 and ESPN3 and is also broadcast internationally by WTA Media in 158 countries. In 2017, the global audience reached nearly 12 million viewers. For more details and tickets, visit www.ctopen.org or call 1-855-464-8366.

—Staff Reports

Mystics Storm Past Sun, 92-80

Connecticut’s Rachel Banham (1) looks for a chance to bust a move
on Washington’s Tayler Hill.

WASHINGTON—Behind a 25-point effort from Elena Delle Donne, the Washington Mystics rallied from an early deficit and blew past the Connecticut Sun, 92-80, before 4,139 fans at Capital One Arena on Tuesday night. The Sun were playing without Alyssa Thomas who injured a shoulder during a meeting between these two teams on June 13 at the Mohegan Sun Arena. That game was also won by the Mystics, 95-91.

The Sun started out strong and led the Mystics 25-15 at the first pole. Connecticut outrebounded Washington 16-8 in the first quarter, matching their season-high for rebounds in a quarter. The Sun also grabbed 16 boards in a quarter vs. the Mystics on June 3.

Washington then turned the page, and outscored Connecticut 28-21 in the second quarter, trailing by just three, 46-43, at intermission.

“They congested, and when you don’t have a defensive three-second call the entire game, and you feel like they got four or five people in the paint most possessions…,” mused Connecticut head coach and general manager Curt Miller after the game. “They did a good job at congestion around the lane as we were dominating inside early and so it got harder as the game went on of those points in the paint.”

The Mystics regained control of the contest with a solid third quarter effort, outscoring the Sun 33-15. Washington connected on 11-of-17 from the field in the third—including 5-of-6 from three-point range—and went 6-for-9 from the free charity stripe.

Four Mystics scored in double-figures. Elena Delle Donne led all scorers with 25, shooting 8-of-13 from the field (3-for-5 from beyond the arc), and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Center LaToya Sanders added a career-high 18 points, while guard Kristi Toliver and rookie forward Ariel Atkins added 14 and 13 respectively. Toliver also dished out a game-high eight assists in the Mystics win.

Four Sun players scored in double digits, led by forward Chiney Ogwumike who posted her third double-double of the season (17 points, 11 rebounds). Guard Jasmine Thomas added 13 points, while guard Alex Bentley and forward Morgan Tuck popped in 13 and 11 points respectively off the Connecticut bench.

The Sun finished the game with 41 rebounds—the sixth time Connecticut has hauled down 40 or more boards thus far this season. The game featured five lead changes and five ties with the Sun up by as much as 12 and the Mystics up by as much as 17

“One of the keys to beating them is getting a good possession every time down the floor and I thought, not so much maybe early, but I thought, once we got past the first quarter, we got good offensive possessions the majority of the time,” said Washington coach Mike Thibault. “The one thing we didn’t do as well tonight is we thought we could do a better job at keeping them off the offensive boards. We didn’t do a good job in the first half and for a couple minutes in the third quarter, but then we finished the game decently.”

With the victory, Washington improves to 9-5, while Connecticut falls to 8-6. The Mystics hold a 2-1 edge over the Sun in head-to-head matchups

“Obviously, they were missing AT [Alyssa Thomas], and she’s a huge piece both offensively and defensively,” said Delle Donne, who first came to prominence in this state by first committing to UConn, then abruptly changing her mind, deciding instead to go to college in her native Delaware. Indeed, because of the abrupt turnaround, she was ineligible to compete in basketball in her first year. She did, however, play for the Blue Hens volleyball team as a freshman. “They are such a great team. It was great to kind of come in here at halftime and get it together defensively and be able to execute it out there.”

Miller was quick to point to Alyssa Thomas’s absence as a major reason for the loss—the Sun’s fourth defeat in their last five games.

“We struggled,” he said. “Obviously, she is our best athletic defender. We play through her in transition. Our winning game has to be simulated by the guards all the time, instead of having another pusher, so obviously we are affected by that injury. She is our toughness, she is our best player in a lot of aspects. We have really hurt her, but tonight we hurt ourselves. We really hurt ourselves in the middle quarters.”

How important is Alyssa Thomas to the Sun’s fortunes? Consider this: Going into the game in which she was injured, the Sun had gotten off to a 7-1 start to the season. They are 1-4 since.

The Sun are back in action tonight when they host the Indiana Fever. Tip-off is at 7 at the Mohegan Sun Arena, and the game will be televised on NBA TV and NBC Sports-Boston.

—Staff Reports