Scenes from Eastbourne: Thursday

All photos by Anita Aguilar.

Mist rolled in off the coast in the morning and delayed play for more than an hour.

Crossword puzzles were a popular rain-delay diversion.

Jamie Hampton hit through the fog and past Lucie Safarova to reach her third semifinal of 2013 and move into the Top 30. The all-business American even, reportedly, broke out a smile afterward.

If you were going to write a soap opera based on the tennis tours these days, you'd probably want to call it “As the Worm Turns." Here, Radek Stepanek, who has split with his wife, Nicole Vaidisova, and is reportedly dating Petra Kvitova, shows off his lady-killing on-court moves.

They say you should play with a loose grip. Yanina Wickmayer takes that advice to extremes as she gets ready to return serve.

The tennis caught the attention of an actress in a production of High Society at Eastbourne's Congress Theatre, which overlooks the practice courts.

Feliciano Lopez reached his second semifinal of 2013 with a win over his friend Fernando Verdasco on a slippery center court.

Taylor Townsend was in town for a U.S.-Great Britain junior competition. Townsend won her singles match on Thursday.

Elena Vesnina continued her winning week by advancing in singles (over No. 2 seed Li Na) and doubles, with partner Flavia Pennetta.

Christ being prepared for the cross? No, it’s just Fabio Fognini hitting a backhand, and going down to defeat at the hands of Ivan Dodig.

It was celebrity FAB—as in fiancé and/or boyfriend—day at Eastbourne. Rory McIlroy watched Caroline Wozniacki win her match, while Alex Ovechkin, above, saw Maria Kirilenko fall in her quarterfinal. Or maybe he just came to check his phone. Nice sneakers.

There are always a lot of young children around the grounds at Eastbourne. This group, from Holmbush Primary School in Shoreham, saw a fair amount of the rain delay, but they didn’t seem to mind.