That changed on Monday as rain delayed the start of play and, with the forecast poor for the rest of the day, organisers made a decision to cancel all play at 1.40pm local time.
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Persistent rain accompanied by a flood warning washed out an entire day’s play at the French Open on Monday for the first time since 2000, throwing an unwelcome spotlight on delayed plans to build a retractable roof over Centre Court.
Eight last-16 matches planned for Monday plus two more which had been held over from Sunday will now be played on Tuesday.
No play was possible on day nine due to heavy rain in Paris, with top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams seeing their fourth-round matches put back.
Paris: World number two Andy Murray and defending champion Stan Wawrinka reached the French Open quarter-finals as Richard Gasquet kept alive hopes of a first home triumph in 33 years by knocking out Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
An area of low pressure will remain stationary over the region for several days, leading to the continuation of unsettled weather through Wednesday.
“Yeah, I’m usually pretty centered [because] you don’t have to get overly excited every single second because you believe”, Venus said, per Johnette Howard of ESPN.com. Kiki Bertens vs. No. 15 Madison Keys is on Court 1; No. 12 Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Yulia Putintseva of Ukraine is on Court 2.
The French Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament without a structure allowing play to go on during rainy days.
Because of scheduling problems, after rain continued for most of Tuesday, too, matches are also spread on other courts. That’s why we sent the players back so early.
While all the three other grand slams – Wimbledon, the USA and Australian Opens – have at least one show court with a roof, there is no hope of a covering appearing at Roland Garros before 2020.
But with one American in the bottom half’s quarters already in the women’s draw and three others still alive in the top half, the prospects for an American in next weekend’s women’s singles final from Roland Garros is real.
Djokovic will instead face Roberto Bautista Agut on Tuesday, when he’ll look to earn a seventh straight trip to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
Right after the opening set ended, play was suspended on Court Philippe Chatrier because of the weather, and Djokovic and Bautista Agut headed to the locker room.
“He’s the best physical condition on the tour with (Novak) Djokovic”, Gasquet said of the Scot.
No. 2-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska leads Tzvetana Pironkova 6-2, 3-0, and sixth-seeded Simona Halep leads 21st-seeded Samantha Stosur 5-3.
After all, he had lost in the first round on his last four trips to Paris. The man with the most wins is Roger Federer, who has 302 over his career but is missing from this year’s French Open because of injury.
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Trailing 5-0 in the second set and with Bacsinszky serving for the win, Bouchard got back into the match, saving a match point and earning two break points that would have leveled the score at 5-5 but she failed to convert.
