Oracle New Haven Field Highlighted by 32 Americans

By Kristine Phillips

NEW HAVEN—Pro tennis returns to Connecticut this weekend when the Oracle Challenger Series  opens play at the Yale Tennis Center. The tournament, which, unlike its predecessor, the Connecticut Open, will feature both a men’s and women’s bracket. (The Connecticut Open was strictly a WTA event that was sold and moved to Asia. The Oracle-New Haven will be played from Sept. 2-8, and will be headlined by 32 Americans,
 
including former ATP Tour Top 10 player Jack Sock; 2019 Citi Open singles champion Jessica Pegula; and Oracle Challenger Series Houston Champion Bradley Klahn.

World No. 56 Pegula leads the women’s field where she will be joined by World No. 70 Jennifer Brady, a finalist at the 2019 Series finale at Indian Wells; the always popular Christina McHale, a former Top 25 singles player; and two-time Series doubles champion Taylor Townsend. They will be challenged by a strong international pool of competitors including Monica Niculescu (ROU), who has accumulated three singles and nine doubles titles on Tour; Barbora Krejcikova (CZE), who captured the Roland Garros and Wimbledon doubles titles in 2018; Daria Gavrilova (AUS), former Connecticut Open champion (2017); and Margarita Gasparyan (RUS), current World No. 59 and two-time WTA title winner.

On the men’s side, the field is highlighted by Klahn, the 2018 Houston champion and Denis Istomin, the 2018 Chicago champion. World No. 79 Steve Johnson, a four-time ATP Tour singles winner, will make his Oracle Challenger Series debut. American Donald Young’s performance in the Oracle Challenger Series last year included semifinal appearances in both Chicago and Indian Wells, allowing him to capture one of the two wild card spots into the BNP Paribas Open, offered to the top two men’s and women’s players that accumulate the most points throughout the Series. 2019 Indian Wells doubles champion and Series veteran Marcos Giron will make his 5th Series appearance. Chilean Nicholas Jarry, who has registered two Top 10 wins this season, enters the field, along with ATP Tour No. 60 Cameron Norrie.

Oracle US Tennis Award recipients JC Aragone (2019), Christopher Eubanks (2018) and Francesca Di Lorenzo (2018) will also compete in the main draw at New Haven. The award, given out annually at the BNP Paribas Open, provides $100,000 grants to one male and one female professional who demonstrate exemplary sportsmanship and an aptitude for success on the pro tour. The remaining spots in the draws will be filled by wild cards, which will be announced in the coming weeks.

The first stop on the 2019-2020 Road to Indian Wells will bring professional tennis back to New Haven, signifying the first pro event hosted in the area since the departure of the WTA-sanctioned Connecticut Open in 2018. All matches will be played at the Yale Tennis Varsity Courts located at 279 Derby Ave, West Haven. Admission to the Oracle Challenger Series is free. Parking is available onsite for $10 per car.

Additionally, the Series’ inaugural 2019-2020 tournament will feature the Oracle Champions Cup, an Invesco Series QQQ event, on Sat., Sept. 7. The one-night tournament is part of the competitive circuit featuring legendary tennis icons and world-renowned champions, and will be headlined by Fairfield, Connecticut native and former World No. 4 James Blake; 2003 U.S. Open Champion and former World No. 1 Andy Roddick; former World No. 2 Tommy Haas; and two-time Davis Cup titlist and former World No. 8 Mark Philippoussis. Tickets are available at https://www.invescoseries.com.

The 2019-2020 Oracle Challenger Series will continue in Houston on November 10-17, 2019, with additional stops to be announced in the coming months. The Challenger Series culminates at the 2020 BNP Paribas Open, the largest ATP Tour and WTA combined two-week event in the world, held annually at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

The tournament is recruiting ball persons and volunteers for the event in New Haven. Those wishing to participate should email ballkids@oraclechallengerseries.com.

For a complete list of players competing in the Oracle, click HERE. To purchase tickets, click HERE.

—with staff reports

#RoadtoIndianWells

Sun Sweep Season Series

Courtney Williams led all scorers with 26 points in the Sun’s 94-84 victory
over the Liberty. (Photo by Steve Freeman/NBAE/Getty Images)

By Bob Phillips

WHITE PLAINS, NY—The Sun broke out the brooms on Friday night when, led by Courtney Williams (26 points) and Alyssa Thomas (20 points, nine boards), the Connecticut Sun defeated the New York Liberty, 94-84, before just 1,791 fans at the Westchester County Center.New York opted to rest former UConn and Sun star Tina Charles, a victim of the grueling year-round schedule endured by most WNBA players. Charles has played 946 minutes in 30 WNBA games this season. She also plays in China in the WNBA’s offseason.

The Sun grabbed a 28-19 lead at the first turn and held on to that nine-point advantage at halftime. The Liberty game out of the locker room on a tear, opening the third period with an 11-3 run, aided by not one, not two, but three technical fouls called on Connecticut. The first two were on Alyssa Thomas and Jasmine Thomas, while the third “T” was called on Sun head coach and GM Curt Miller. Former UConn star Kia Nurse calmly sunk all three freebies.

The third period, normally Connecticut’s strongest, didn’t play out that way on Friday as the Liberty went on a 21-7 tear to take a four-point lead, 61-57, with 2:20 remaining in the stanza. But the Sun went on a 10-0 run of their own, taking a 67-61 lead at the third pole and never looking back.

Marine Johannes, the French national star, led New York with 21 points. Nurse added 15 points and had three assists, and 6-9 Chinese national Han Xu added 12 points, her WNBA career high. Canadian national star Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe started for the first time this season, and added a career-high 10 points and grabbed a career-high seven boards for New York, which fell to 9-22.

Jonquel Jones (12 points) and Jasmine Thomas (10) also scored in double digits for Connecticut.

With the win, the Sun improve to 22-9, while New York falls to 9-22. It was also the Sun’s third victory over the Libs, finishing the season 3-0 vs. their closest rivals. (Tack on two preseason wins, and Connecticut is 5-0 on the season vs. New York.) Connecticut assured itself of finishing no lower than the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. The Sun currently trail the 22-8 Washington Mystics by one-half game for the No. 1 seed. The Mystics play at Dallas on Saturday night.

The two teams with the best record (regardless of conference affiliation) receive byes in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Both of the first two rounds are one-and-done variety, so it’s imperative for the Sun to finish in the top two to avoid that perilous scenario where one bad night can end the season.

Next up for the Sun is a date at home vs. the 10-20 Dallas Wings on Wednesday. Tip-off at the Mohegan Sun Arena will be at 7 p.m. For fans unable to attend, the game will be televised on NESN+ and CBS Sports Network. Connecticut will then wrap up regular-season play with a home game against the Chicago Sky on Friday and at Indiana next Sunday.

Beyond the Arc

• With her 15-point performance, Kia Nurse has scored in double figures in four of the last five games.
• Han Xu, the Lib’s “gentle giant,” was a perfect 2-for-2 from three-point land on Friday.
• Asia Durr also sat out the game for New York with a groin injury.
• In the first half, Connecticut was en fuego, shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Courtney Williams scored 12 points, tying Marine Johannés for the first-half high.
• Talk about swings… New York led by as many as five in the first quarter and trailed by as many as 13 in the first half.
• Connecticut shot 50.7 from the field (24-57), including 7-for-13 (53.8 percent) from beyond the three-point arc.
• New York enjoyed a good shooting night, as well. The Libs went 33-for76 from the field (43.4 percent), including 10-for-24 (41.7 percent) from 41.7 percent from beyond the arc.
• Indeed, a fourth technical was called in the third quarter this one against former UConn star Bria Hartley of the Liberty.

THE SKINNY

—with staff reports

#ctsun / @ConnecticutSun / #wnba / @wnba / @nyliberty / @MarineJ5 / @courtneywilliams10

Bees Drop Twin Bill To Barnstormers

Bijan Rademacher and Rando Moreno each homered for the Bees,
but the Barnstormers swept the doubleheader in Lancaster on Friday.

(Photo courtesy of Joe Doll)

LANCASTER, PA—The Lancaster Barnstormers took both games of a traditional (i.e. single-admission) doubleheader from the New Britain Bees at Clipper Magazine Stadium on Friday night. The Barnstormers took the first game, 7-4, and won the nightcap in walk-off fashion, 1-0. Both contests were seven-inning affairs.

In the opener, Bees starter Cory Riordan (7-8) was tagged with the loss after allowing six runs on 12 hits (including three home runs) in four innings of work. Lancaster’s Connor Overton (2-2) earned the win, giving up four runs on eight hits (two home runs) in five innings. He walked two, struck out four and had one wild pitch. Scott Shuman closed the game out to earn his third save of the season.

Trailing 3-0 in the top of the third, New Britain got to within 3-2 when Rando Moreno hustled down the line from third base on a wild pitch thrown by Overton while Mike Carp plated Jared James with an opposite-field RBI single to left. The visitors cut the deficit to 4-3 in the fourth thanks to a solo home run to right by Moreno, his third dinger of the season.

The Bees narrowed the gap to 6-4 in the fifth went Bijan Rademacher went yard with a solo blast to right centerfield for his 15th round-tripper of the season, but that was as close as the boys from the Hardware City would get as they dropped the opener of the twin-bill. Jared James and Moreno each had a pair of hits in defeat.

In game two, New Britain starting pitcher Giovanni Soto got a no-decision. He fired two scoreless and hitless innings in seven batters faced. He walked three and struck out three. Lancaster starting pitcher Alejandro Chacin also did not factor in the game’s outcome despite tossing three scoreless innings and allowing just one hit. He alson issued one base on balls and struck out one.

The Bees’ lone hit came in the top of the third when Darren Ford followed a two-out walk to Moreno with a single to centerfield. That set the table for Rademacher with runners on first and third and two outs, but the right fielder flew out to Greg Golson in left to end the Bees’ only significant threat in the nightcap.

In his second inning of relief, losing pitcher Brady Dragmire (1-1) retired the first two men he faced, but the right-hander was unable to send the game into extra-innings as K.C. Hobson launched a massive walk-off solo home run that completely left Clipper Magazine Stadium, making a winner out of reliever Pedro Echemendia (2-0).

It was the second time this season New Britain has suffered a walk-off loss—both to Lancaster. The last Barnstormer walk-off win against the Bees was on May 21.

With the two wins, the Barnstormers improve to 21-27 in the second half, 45-73 overall, while the Bees fall to 21-26, 56-60.

The Bees return New Britain Stadium on Monday when they will host the Somerset Patriots in a battle of Liberty Division foes. First pitch will be at 1:35 p.m. It will be a special Labor Day matinee, and it also will be Dollar Monday. Field Box tickets and Martin Rosol Hot Dogs are available just $1 each. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

—Staff Reports

#nbbees / @NewBritainBees / #BEESBALL / @atlantic_lg / #atlanticleague / @gobarnstormers