AVP Nissan Series Cincinnati Open A Huge Success

Fans flock to inaugural event; approval rating runs high

By Ed Letsinger

The AVP Nissan Series Cincinnati Open was an overwhelming success in its first year of existence at the Lindner Family Tennis Center as the event had both fans and players alike buzzing with excitement and approval all weekend long.

An estimated 26,000 fans attended the event this past weekend according to AVP officials with several sessions estimated at about 5,000 each; a sell-out based on seating capacity.

The women's final late Saturday afternoon between Rachel Wacholder and Elaine Youngs against Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh proved to be the biggest draw of the weekend as a sell-out crowd witnessed a big upset on the Grandstand Court as Wacholder/Youngs snapped a 50-match May-Treanor/Walsh winning streak.

The men's final on Sunday between Mike Lambert/John Hyden and Dax Holdren/Jeff Nygaard drew about 4,000 fans as Lambert/Hyden won their first-ever tournament together.

Both championship matches on Saturday and Sunday were televised live on NBC as the nation witnessed a wild and crazy crowd which was cheering loudly and enthusiastically as they banged their Thunder sticks.

‘This has really been exciting,” said May-Treanor of the weekend.  “A lot of the players have never been to Cincinnati and it’s a great new stop (on the Tour).”

Tournament News & Notes

The $250,000 in prize money at the AVP Nissan Series Cincinnati Open was the largest amount of the season so far.

There were 44 men's and 34 women's teams entered in the Thursday qualifier, along with 24 men's and 18 women's teams that were seeded directly into the main draw for a total of 120 teams.

Dax Holdren and Jeff Nygaard is the only men’s team to advance to the Final Four in each of the six AVP events this season; with the championship match on Sunday their fourth final.

The team of Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh had their 50-match, 10-tournament winning streak snapped on Saturday by Rachel Wacholder and Elaine Youngs.  It was their first lost since Sept. 4, 2004.

The win on Saturday by Wacholder/Youngs and Sunday by Hyden/Lambert were the first ever for both teams.

As the No. 12-seeded team, John Hyden and Mike Lambert became just the second team seeded that low to win a double-elimination tournament on the AVP Tour since 2001.

Hyden has had six partners and five of them were teammates on the 2000 U.S. National team, including Chip McCaw, Dan Landry, Jeff Nygaard, Andy Witt and Mike Lambert.