Women's semis washed out
Hopes of finishing the 2009 US Open on schedule took a huge blow on Friday as the women's semi-finals were washed out at Flushing Meadows.
There had been no play since rain suspended action for the first time in the 11-day-old grand slam on Thursday night with the men's quarter-finals incomplete, third seed Rafael Nadal a set up and 3-2 ahead in a second-set tie-break against 11th seed Fernando Gonzalez.
On Friday, as the rain continued to fall in New York throughout the day, the scheduled women's semi-finals, pitting Kim Clijsters against defending champion Serena Williams and ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki against Yanina Wickmayer, were postponed at 10.15pm BST, and rescheduled, weather permitting, for Saturday.
The Nadal-Gonzalez match was kept on the slate in the hope it could be finished on Friday, which would allow the men's semi-finals to stay on schedule for Saturday and the final to remain on course for Sunday night.
The forecast for a clear evening's tennis looked remote, however, as did prospects for Saturday, with the likelihood that the men's final would be played on a Monday for the second year in a row.