Brown gives fans a show in loss to Murray

Dustin Brown, who is German and Jamaican and a whole bunch of fun, was a crowd pleaser during his loss to Andy Murray at Ashe Stadium on Friday. He played Murray tough in the first set with his throwback serve-and-volley style.

The man called "Dreddy" for his flying dreadlocks wore shoes with neon green and orange laces. He smiled, played with unbridled enthusiasm, stood up during changeovers and was unfailingly upbeat after his loss. He was an autograph favorite with a crowd calling for him outside the Presidents Gate.

"It was a great feeling to be on that court, then playing against someone like Andy," Brown said. "It was a great feeling when you're out there and you're playing well, especially in the first set and there's people just screaming your name the whole time."

Can he be as famous as Jamaica's world champ sprinter Usain Bolt? "There's more tennis tournaments than he runs in a year, so hopefully, I'll get to that status sooner or later," he said.

Earl a category zero

Hurricane? What hurricane?

"It was so strange, because like since last evening, we all were talking about how bad it's going to be today," Elena Dementieva said. "Coming to the stadium, I was like looking at the window, expecting where is the rain? Where is the wind? Playing in absolutely perfect conditions. Even with the two drops we had in the first set."

Dementieva's match with Daniela Hantuchova was interrupted for two minutes by a few drops. Midafternoon play was suspended for a few minutes on all courts as a few more drops fell. In the end, the water wagons and the leaf blowers went unused.

Women go last

Saturday night's late match on the Tennis Channel is former champion and 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova against 23rd seed Maria Kirilenko. The women's hottest player this summer and the No. 1 seed, Caroline Wozniacki, is playing a day match at Armstrong Stadium against Yung-Jan Chan, on CBS.