PARIS (Reuters) – The French Open women’s final was delayed on Saturday after the men’s semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem was interrupted by rain.
Organizers said the match between world number one Djokovic and the fourth-seeded Austrian on Court Philippe Chatrier would not resume before 1500 local time (1300 GMT), the exact time that the women’s showdown between Australian Ashleigh Barty and Czech Marketa Vondrousova had been scheduled to start.
Austrian Thiem was 6-2 3-6 7-5 5-7 4-1 up when the men’s match, which had already been halted on Friday because of bad weather, was stopped.
Rain and gusting winds have caused chaos in the French Open schedule, with a first complete washout since 2016 on Wednesday delaying the women’s semi-finals to Friday.
Those matches were eventually played on the second and third showcourts instead of Court Philippe Chatrier, prompting strong criticism from the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and former world number one Amelie Mauresmo.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Clare Fallon)
