Early start for men's semis

2008-09-06 09:00

New York - Forecasts of rain for Saturday have prompted the US Tennis Association to schedule an earlier than normal start for the US Open men's semi-finals and make back-up plans for title matches.

Organisers of the year's final Grand Slam tournament announced on Friday that Saturday's men's semi-finals would begin at 11:00 in the morning rather than noon as has been typical on past "Super Saturday" sessions.

Forecasts call for rain late on Friday ending in the early morning and not resuming until late on Saturday afternoon, which could open a window of opportunity to play the semi-finals at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

One semi-final would be played before the other rather than having each played at the same time, one at Ashe stadium and the other at adjacent Louis Armstrong Stadium, in part because they are paired in the same ticket session.

The forecast is bleak for the women's final, now set for Saturday night.

USTA officials also outlined two possible scenarios for rainouts on Saturday.

If all matches are wiped out, the men's singles would be staged on Sunday afternoon at 13:00 and 16:00 local time (17:00 and 20:00 GMT) with the women's final staged at 21:00 on Sunday night (01:00 GMT).

That would push the men's final to 16:00 on Monday.

Should the men's semi-finals be completed but the women's final rained out, one of them would be staged at 16:00 on Sunday and the other would be played at 21:00 on Sunday.

- AFP