NEW YORK -- The US Open used its new, $150 million retractable roof atop Arthur Ashe Stadium during a match for the first time on Wednesday night.The shutting of the cover resulted in a suspension of play of less than 7? minutes at 3-all in the second set of Rafael Nadals 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 victory against Andreas Seppi in the second round.Nadal had the distinction of hitting the first practice and match ball under the closed roof.?I feel that the conditions are pretty similar when the roof is closed or open, Nadal said afterward.The most noticeable difference was the amount of ambient noise -- chatter from spectators, mainly -- that could be heard during points.U.S. Tennis Association executive director Gordon Smith said tournament organizers will look into that.This is New York. And yes, theres crowd noise. And yes, we want the crowds to come, we want them to be excited. We want them to cheer. And we think that over time, the fans will adjust and the players will adjust, he said. Its obvious theres going to be more noise in a trapped environment than in an open environment.Even before the roof was closed, chair umpire Cedric Mourier repeatedly implored spectators to keep quiet during points. Both Nadal and Seppi were surprised by just how many interruptions there were from fans, either moving around in the stands or simply being loud.The people, I think, are used to going to baseball [games] and keep talking, Seppi said. There really was a lot of noise.After dealing with rain delays and postponed finals for years, the USTA finally built a movable roof over its main stadium. It was available for this years tournament, which started Monday, but the first two days were dry.It took well over 10 years to come up with a solution to do this that was affordable, was architecturally imaginative, that was cost-effective, that was efficient. But we did it, Smith said. To see it work flawlessly was really incredible.A light rain began to fall while Nadal and Seppi were playing. Tournament referee Brian Earley was monitoring the weather from off to the side of the playing surface and eventually walked over to chair umpire Cedric Mourier and the two players to let them know he wanted to shut the roof.This might take very few minutes, Mourier announced to the spectators. Thank you very much for your patience.Some fans applauded or cheered. Others pulled out their cellphones to shoot photos of the structure as it moved. Even Nadal took a glance overhead to sneak a peek.ESPN tennis analyst Chris Evert took to Twitter to share her feelings on seeing the new roof in action.In an interview with ESPN during its broadcast of the match, tournament director David Brewer said: This is why we built the roof in the first place.Asked what he thought of how things went Wednesday, Brewer replied: Pretty sweet from my point of view.The USTA has said that, based on pretournament testing, the expectation is there will be little difference in playing conditions, regardless of whether the roof is open or closed.The only use of the roof until Nadals match came when it was shut at the start of the tournaments opening ceremony on Monday night, then opened while Phil Collins sang In the Air Tonight.The US Open mens final was postponed in five consecutive years because of wet weather from 2008 to 2012.?For a good show, for the comfort of the fans and for the fans in general [watching on] television, Nadal said about the new roof, its just an unbelievable improvement.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.Jerseys For Sale . 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Stitched Jerseys For Sale . -- Arizona raced out to a big lead and did not back off, hitting the accelerator instead.EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern basketball teams arent known for their swagger, but Vic Law and the Wildcats are making noises that times are about to change.Law triggered a decisive 12-0 run early in the game on the way to a team-high 22 points and Northwestern rolled past Bryant 86-66 on Friday.Scottie Lindsey contributed 20 points for the Wildcats, while Gavin Skelly pitched in 15 more off the bench. Dererk Pardon had a game-high 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.Were really good, Law said. Weve showed that well come out and compete no matter who its against. This isnt the old Northwestern.How good the Wildcats really are wont be known for a while, of course, but coach Chris Collins already was certain that this was the most talented of his four teams to date.As a coach, this game had a lot of trappings, Collins said. We had three games on the road and one day to prepare for a game, and that day was Thanksgiving. We had the potential for a lot of distractions, but I was so proud of the way we started the game.Northwestern (4-2) took a 38-23 lead into halftime, but Bryant top gun Nisre Zouzoua went off for 14 points to close the gap to 42-39 five minutes into the second half. After a timeout, the Wildcats were able to regroup for their second victory in the last four starts.Zouzoua finished with a game-high 24 points and Adam Grant added 19 the Bulldogs, who shot only 39 percent in the field. Zouzoua came off career-high 30-point outburst in a 64-57 victory over Louisiana Monroe three nights earlier.After Grants jump shot tied the game 5-5, Northwestern seized control in the next 3:30.Law drained eight straight points, including a pair of 3--pointers.dddddddddddd Skelly followed with a pair of free throws before Pardon scored on a lay-up to cap the onslaught.Bryant (2-4) started no one taller than 6-foot-6 and just one upperclassman in the loss, its third in the last four starts.We did some good things, especially at the start of the second half, Bryant coach Tim OShea said. We have a young team and dont play in the Big Ten, so I think we had an impressive effort throughout the course of the game.BIG PICTUREBryant: The challenge will be to find a consistent third scorer to complement the Grant-Zouzoua backcourt, which accounted for 52 percent of their points thus far. We have (the talent), OShea said. But its young talent that will take time to develop. The Bulldogs were picked to finish third in the Northeast Conference preseason coaches poll.Northwestern: While the Wildcats have shot the longball well thus far, the jury remains out on their inside game. They entered the contest with a .451 success rate from beyond the arc, best among Big Ten teams. Law (.700) and Lindsey (.455) led the way among the regulars.ALL FOR ONEPaced by Lindsey and Skelly with six apiece, Northwestern had 25 assists on 31 field goals against an extended 2/3 zone defense. Thats a sign of good ball movement and guys who are willing to do it, Collins said.UP NEXTBryant: The Bulldogs travel to Providence, Rhode Island, for a date with Brown on Monday night.Northwestern: The Wildcats will get a big test against Wake Forest in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in Evanston on Monday night. ' ' '
