USTA plans ahead for Hanna

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:00

Hanna was on Friday moving up the east coast of America towards the New York area, where increased winds were already affecting play during the women’s semi-finals.

The rain is forecast to begin late on Friday night until early morning on Saturday before subsiding during the afternoon, but resuming throughout the evening.

Start of play on Saturday for the men’s semi-finals, which traditionally begin in the afternoon, has been moved ahead to 11am EDT, with the match between second seed and defending champion Roger Federer and third seed Novak Djokovic the first match on court at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Top seed Rafael Nadal’s semi against British number one Andy Murray will follow shortly after.

Saturday’s women’s singles final, which will feature second seed Jelena Jankovic, who beat Olympic champion Elena Dementieva on Friday afternoon, and fourth seed Serena Williams, who beat sixth-seeded Dinara Safina, is scheduled to start at 7pm EDT.

The organising US Tennis Association (USTA) issued an inclement weather advisory on Friday afternoon outlining two scenarios in the event of all or some play being lost on Saturday.

If both the day and night sessions are rained out, the men’s semi-finals would be rescheduled for a Sunday start at 1pm EDT with the women’s final moved to 9pm EDT, with the men’s singles final shifted to Monday at 4pm EDT. That scenario would also play out if the men’s semis are not completed.

If just the women’s final was rained out on Saturday, both finals would be played on Sunday in separate sessions, one beginning at 4pm EDT, the other at 9pm with the USTA deciding the order of play depending on when the men’s semi-finals were concluded.

The advisory also stated that tickets for any lost session would remain valid for the corresponding rescheduled ones.

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