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Saturday was the day of the Bangalore Open semi-finals. Martin and Michael had tickets and headed over to Cubban Park, where the tennis stadium was, at 9am. It turned out that the info on the web site was wrong though and the first game was not to start until 5pm. Happily though, the park was also hosting an "international women's day" about... who knows what. But whatever the issues of the day, the event was a sea of colour and a great opportunity for photography. Michael is an awesome photographer, with equally awesome kit... and a good teacher too, so Martin learned lots and hopefully got a few very nice photos as a result.
For lunch, we ate at the same restaurant Martin had been to with the team on Monday. There was a nice breeze on the 13th floor balcony (Michael nearly lost his hat!) and we had a great meal, watching the birds of prey sail past us.
In the evening we watched three tennis matches. First was a somewhat unexciting doubles semi. This was followed though by an *excellent* singles semi-final; Patty Schnyder vs Zi Yan of China. Patty won of course. The day closed with the most awesome battle between sisters, Venus and Serena Williams. Serena went through to the final.
It was just like Wimbledon. But instead of pims cocktails and strawberries, there was curry, bats flying around the stadium and loads of very excited little kids, all screaming for their favourite player :-)
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In Cubban Park outside the entrance to the Bangalore Open at about 9 a.m. |
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This lady was cleaning an enclosed area of the park and kindly agreed to let us take her photo |
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Ladies in sarees were everywhere, coming for the international women's event |
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Getting the place nice and clean ready for the tennis |
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Wheeee! |
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Photos from in and around the women's event.... |
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Inside the palace |
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They had dinosaurs in India too, you know |
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At the entrance to the Bull Temple, Martin had a fresh coconut milk drink and had a chat with this very nice couple. |
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Tea anyone? |
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From the restaurant balcony |
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Michael at the tennis :-) |
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Doubles semi-final: Peng/Sun vs Ji/Sun. Peng/Sun won 6/3, 6/2 in straight sets |
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The stadium was not even full! India is only just getting into tennis...not much room for anything else given their intense passion for cricket! |
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Patty Schnyder..... |
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....looking pleased with her semi-finals victory. Patty won in straight sets 6/3, 6/4 |
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Venus Williams..... |
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....looking like she might have just realised her sister was going to beat her! |
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Serena Williams |
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Serena won after a tie-breaker, 6/3, 3/6, 7/6, 7/4. An awesome match! |