Mardy Fish pulls out, Jim Courier and Michael Chang fill in

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Mardy Fish had foreshadowed what would happen today at the L.A. Tennis Open on Thursday night. Fish held an ice pack on his strained left hip muscle and suggested that further play here at UCLA this weekend might not be in his best interest as far as the rest of the summer schedule was concerned.

And sure enough, Friday afternoon, second-seeded Fish withdrew from his quarterfinal match against Leonardo Mayer of Argentina. ‘Legends’ Michael Chang and Jim Courier were hustled onto the schedule to fill in a gaping hole and anyone who held a ticket to Friday’s day session can exchange it for either of Saturday’s 1 p.m. or 8 p.m. sessions.

Mayer benefits by getting a chance at his first-ever ATP Tour semifinal, against unseeded Australian Carsten Ball. That match is at 1 p.m. followed by a doubles semifinal with Benjamin Becker and Frank Moser against Denis Istomin and Mayer. At 8 p.m. either top-seeded Tommy Haas or eighth-seeded Marat Safin will meet sixth-seeded Sam Querrey followed by another ‘legends’ singles match between Courier and Chang

-- Diane Pucin