No respite from rain

Rain delayed the start of play for the fourth day running at a chaotic US Open on Thursday. A brief respite in the wet New York weather had ...

Rain delayed the start of play for the fourth day running at a chaotic US Open on Thursday.

A brief respite in the wet New York weather had left organisers hopeful of opening proceedings with top seed Kim Clijsters’s quarter-final match against France’s Amelie Mauresmo. But further drizzle shortly before the match put paid to that, leaving the last Grand Slam of the year in limbo once more.

To add to the sense of farce at Flushing Meadows, the Grandstand showcourt was deemed unplayable for the first match of the day because of a problem with water seepage.

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It left Australian Lleyton Hewitt and Paradorn Srichaphan facing a last-minute change to court 11 as they aim to finish their rain-hit fourth-round match — originally scheduled for first on Grandstand.

The loss of Grandstand is one of a number of problems facing the United States Tennis Association (USTA), which has attracted criticism from players and fans this week.

Only four singles matches have been completed since Monday because of severe rain delays, forcing officials to seriously consider holding the men’s final on Monday.

They have said they need to complete the men’s fourth round by Thursday night if they are to avoid taking the tournament into a third week. While Americans Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick have made it through to the last eight, six other fourth round matches are still out standing.

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In the women’s draw, there are two matches still stuck at the fourth round stage. Ai Sugiyama of Japan leads Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 7-6, 5-4 and Russian Anastasia Myskina leads France’s Mary Pierce 7-6, 2-0 in matches that were first scheduled to take place on Monday.

As an emergency measure, the USTA confirmed on Thursday an impromptu evening session had been added on Friday to help clear the backlog of matches. The session will feature the women’s semi-finals and will begin at 19:30 local time.(Reuters)