It’s rare, in tennis, to have a double-header, that is, to play two matches in one day (the term comes from baseball, where double-headers are often used to make up for games that were canceled due to weather).

Due to Hurricane Danny, the mid-Atlantic coast up through to New England got doused with rain.  This meant the Pilot Pen Classic had to call play for Friday, and none of the semifinals were played.

Unlike the rest of the US Open Series, the finals of the Pilot Pen Classic were originally scheduled for Saturday, not Sunday.  The reason, ostensibly, was to allow players to head to the US Open and have a day off.

Presumably, for this reason (and fans that may have travelled to watch a match on Saturday), the organizers scheduled the semifinals and finals on the same day.

Because of the weather, they decided to hold the semifinals indoors at a nearby facility.  They had already done this for the women’s semifinals on Friday.

In the morning semifinal, Sam Querrey played Jose Acasuso.  Remember Acasuso?  The guy that gave Federer trouble in the French Open?  Querrey had a comfortable win, 6-3, 6-4.

In the other semifinal, Fernando Verdasco beat Igor Andreev in two tiebreaks, 7-6(4), 7-6(5).

Querrey and Verdasco then came back later that evening to play the finals (at 7 PM), which seemed to start much later.  This would be Querrey’s third final in the US Open Series.  Querrey also made the final in Indianapolis and Los Angeles, winning in Los Angeles.  Querrey also reached the finals of Newport, but that’s not part of the US Open Series, but it did start him on a run of good tournaments.

Despite the pro-Querrey crowd and cool temperatures, Verdasco would take the first set, 6-4, and had a break up in the second.  Down 2-4 in the second, Querrey had to dig himself out of a marathon match, one that had ten deuces.  Having held to 3-4, Querrey would break back and the two would go on serve until the tiebreak.  In the tiebreak, Querrey had three opportunities to take the second set but Verdasco eventually won 8 points to 6.  As talented as Verdasco is, this was only his third career title.  His last title came in 2008 in Umag, Croatia.

US Open starts Monday with Querrey winning the US Open Series.  Andy Murray, who only played two events, was second, winning Montreal and losing in the semifinal in Cincinnati.  del Potro came in third, playing two events as well, winning Washington DC, and losing in the finals of Montreal.

The US Open starts Monday at 11.  Roger Federer plays Monday opening up with NCAA champ, Devin Britton.