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 Both the men's and women's semis will now be played on Friday,
tournament officials announced.
Play was scheduled to begin at 7pm ET on Thursday with world number
one Serena Williams taking on Italian Roberta Vinci.
The delay puts the American's calendar-year grand slam bid on hold.
That match would have been followed by second seed Simona Halep
against Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
An action-packed Friday marathon of action will now start at 11am ET
with the Halep-Pennetta match, followed by Williams versus Vinci.
The men's semi-finals will follow, with world number one Novak
Djokovic tacking defending champion Marin Cilic and then an
intriguing all-Swiss matchup between five-times U.S. Open winner
Roger Federer and French Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
This will be the last year the U.S. Open will have to deal with
delays and postponements on the main venue Arthur Ashe Stadium
court, because a retractable roof will be fully operational next
year.
Fans entering the massive 23,000 seat stadium the past two weeks
have had a glimpse of the skeleton structure taking shape over the
showcourt.
The retractable roof is just part of the $500 million renovations
taking place at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
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A new 8,000 seat grandstand court is also in the works and Louis
Armstrong court will be torn down after this year's grand slam and
rebuilt.
Flushing Meadows has largely escaped bad weather this year but from
2008 to 2012 the U.S. Tennis Association was forced to push the
men’s final to Monday because of rain delays.
Not wanting to juggle schedules, tournament officials opted for
Monday men's final in 2013 and 2014 before switching back to a
Sunday date this year.
(Reporting by Steve Keating. Editing by Tony Jimenez/Andrew Both)
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