NEW YORK: Rain delayed the start of play in the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday, threatening a programme already crowded by Tuesday’s washout at the National Tennis Center.
With intermittent rain forecast throughout the overcast day, organisers said they hoped play could begin by Noon (7.30 hrs IST), and were determined to get as many matches completed as possible.
All remaining 20 players in the singles, 12 men and eight women, were scheduled to compete today, with the remaining men’s fourth-round matches, featuring Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray, slated to launch play.
Two men’s quarter-finals, involving top seed Novak Djokovic and five-time men’s champion Roger Federer, were also on the day’s schedule along with all four women’s quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer, sent spinning to a landmark Wimbledon defeat by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, gets another quarterfinal crack at the explosive Frenchman in the last eight of the US Open.
Five-time champion Federer, who must win at Flushing Meadows to extend his streak of eight straight years with at least one Grand Slam title, say’s he’s eager to tackle Tsonga — who followed up his sensational All England Club upset with a victory over the Swiss in the fourth round of the Montreal Masters in August.
“It’s something I’m looking forward to,” Federer said of his chance to turn the tables on Tsonga.
“I live for playing the big matches, live for playing a guy who is explosive, has got some firepower. I like to play those kind of players, especially now that we’re in the deeper stages of the tournament.”
Tsonga’s sensational 3-6, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory at the All England Club marked the first time Federer lost a Grand Slam match he had led by two sets.
It condemned six-time winner Federer to his second straight quarterfinal defeat at Wimbledon and raised doubts about his ability to add to his total of 16 Grand Slams, the most recent of which came at the 2010 Australian Open.
Since then, Federer has turned 30, and lost to Tsonga yet again when the Frenchman triumphed in three sets on the hardcourts of Montreal.
“It’s good to have some wins against him, because now Roger knows I’m able to beat him,” Tsonga said. “But every day it’s another day. (Agencies)