NEW YORK -- The U.S. Open closed its new, $150 million retractable roof atop Arthur Ashe Stadium during a match for the first time Wednesday night.The shutting of the cover resulted in a suspension of play of less than 7 1/2 minutes at 3-all in the second set of Rafael Nadals 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 victory against Andreas Seppi in the second round.I feel that the conditions are pretty similar when the roof is closed or open, Nadal said afterward.The most noticeable difference was the amount of ambient noise -- chatter from spectators, mainly -- that could be heard during points.U.S. Tennis Association Executive Director Gordon Smith said tournament organizers will look into that.This is New York. And yes, theres crowd noise. And yes, we want the crowds to come, we want them to be excited. We want them to cheer. And we think that over time the fans will adjust and the players will adjust, he said. Its obvious theres going to be more noise in a trapped environment than in an open environment.Even before the roof was closed, chair umpire Cedric Mourier repeatedly implored spectators to keep quiet during points. Both Nadal and Seppi were surprised by just how many interruptions there were from fans, either moving around in the stands or simply being loud.The people, I think, are used to going to baseball (games) and keep talking, Seppi said. There really was a lot of noise.After dealing with rain delays and postponed finals for years, the USTA finally built a sliding roof over its main stadium. It was available for this years tournament, which started Monday, but the first two days were dry.It took well over 10 years to come up with a solution to do this that was affordable, was architecturally imaginative, that was cost-effective, that was efficient. But we did it, Smith said. To see it work flawlessly was really incredible.A light rain began to fall while Nadal and Seppi were playing. Tournament referee Brian Earley was monitoring the weather from off to the side of the playing surface and eventually walked over to Mourier and the two players to let them know he wanted to shut the roof.This might take very few minutes, Mourier announced to the spectators. Thank you very much for your patience.Some fans applauded or cheered. Others pulled out their cellphones to shoot photos of the structure as it moved. Even Nadal took a glance overhead to sneak a peek.The USTA has said that, based on pre-tournament testing, the expectation is there will be little difference in playing conditions whether the roof is open or closed.The only use of the roof until Nadals match came when it was shut at the start of the tournaments opening ceremony Monday night, then opened while Phil Collins sang In the Air Tonight.The U.S. Open mens final was postponed in five consecutive years because of wet weather from 2008-12.For a good show, for the comfort of the fans and for the fans in general (watching on) television, Nadal said about the new roof, its just an unbelievable improvement.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich Clearance Football Jerseys . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. 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Cheap Cleveland Browns Jerseys China . He says so-called TRT is only one problem and he wants to go even further than the ban. "Its about time," St-Pierre told reporters at a promotional event in Montreal on Friday. "I think its a good thing. FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The Patriots have been pretty fortunate in regards to how their schedule has played out this season.The final four games of the regular season could prove to be their toughest yet, though they may face one or more of them with yet another key player sidelined.New England receiver and Danny Amendola left Sundays 26-10 win over the Rams in the third quarter with an ankle injury, and was later spotted in the tunnel postgame walking on crutches.Should he miss any playing time, it would be the latest blow to a team thats already lost tight end Rob Gronkowski to season-ending back surgery last week. It also creates a hole on special teams, where Amendola also serves as the primary punt returner.Any time you lose a guy like Danny whos another big piece of this team, its terrible, receiver Julian Edelman said. Hes a good leader on this team. He comes in and he makes plays. He catches first downs like its nothing. He makes big plays in the special-teams game. So its gonna be tough.The Patriots will face three teams that currently have winning records over the next four weeks, beginning with a Monday night matchup with the AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens and their always stingy defense.The Ravens had no problem dispatching Miami, currently second to New England in the AFC East, in a 38-6 win on Sunday. The victory snapped the Dolphins six-game win streak.Obviously, theyre a good team, Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount said. Right now, weve got to make sure we stay on our Ps and Qs, and cross our Xs and just continue to do what weve got to do to make sure that we continue to win these games.The Rams return home with even more problems to work through on offense after managing just 162 yards of offense.They did not cross midfield in the first half and didnt get inside the Patriots 25 until a 66-yard pass from rookie Jared Goff to Kenny Britt just after the two-minute warning to set up their lone touchdown.The elephant in room is the offense. I get it. Were working hard on it, coach Jeff Fisher said.GOFFS GAFFESFisher says not to blame Goff for the teams offensive struggles. The bigger problem was dropped throws and pass protection.When you hit someone in the chest with the football, youve got to hang on it, even though there is contact involved, Fisher said. He extended plays with his legs; he moved around. ... Jared Goff wasnt the reason we lost this football game today.Goff completed 14 of 32 passes for 161 yards -- 66 of them on a fourth-down throw to Kenny Britt to set up the Rams only touchdown with just under 2 minutes left.dddddddddddd He also had two interceptions, one on a tipped ball and the other when his arm was hit while he was throwing.We tip the ball and they catch it and then they tip a ball and they catch it. You know, thats the difference in the ballgame really, Fisher said.TURNING A CORNER: The Patriots defense may be coming together at the right time. After failing to force a turnover for 44 straight possessions, New Englands defense has four over the past two games.Sometimes you have droughts and lulls, and theres a lot of things that you need: good breaks, defensive end Chris Long said. People outside the locker room may be panicking when we dont get them, but not us. CLOSING IN ON 1,000: Blount rushed 18 times for 88 yards and a touchdown Sunday, leaving him just 43 yards shy of posting his first 1,000-yard season since 2010, when he rushed for 1,007 as a rookie.Blount was placed on injured reserve last December with a hip injury, but said he isnt thinking about that even with a bruising running style that makes him more vulnerable to hits.You cant worry about injuries. You cant worry about last year, he said. Youve just got to worry about what you can control. Injuries -- you cant really control. Youve just got to worry about what you can control.BOOMING KICKSRams punter Johnny Hekker didnt let it go to his head after usually tight-lipped Patriots coach Bill Belichick called him a tremendous weapon, dangerous and as good a player as Ive ever seen at that position.It was cool and a little flattering hearing that from a long-time ball coach, Hekker said Sunday. I would love to have him raving about some other players on our team, because we have guys that are worthy of that kind of stuff. But it is a difficult year for us.Hekker punted eight times for a net average of 52.9 yards on Sunday, including a 76-yarder in the fourth quarter than helped pin the Patriots at their own 5-yard line.Belichicks comments made it all the way to Hekkers parents.It definitely gave them a proud moment, he said. They were able to send them to all of their buddies. They were all pretty excited about it.---AP Sports Writer Jimmy Golen contributed to this report.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '