Heavy rain in New York disrupts U.S. Open despite roofed stadiums

Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Heavy rainfall in New York drenched the court Wednesday at Louis Armstrong Stadium, despite its roof, and disrupted some second-round matches at the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament.

Rain blew through the gaps in the retractable cover of the facility and forced No. 77 Kevin Anderson of South Africa and No. 14 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina to stop play in the first set of their second-round match in Forest Hills.

Spectators in the 14,000-seat stadium huddled under umbrellas or left the match early. They received flash flood and tornado warnings while inside the stadium as water surrounded cars in the parking lots outside.

The Schwartzman-Anderson match was paused for nearly 2 1/2 hours and was moved to Arthur Ashe Stadium, which had fewer gaps and a dry court. The match ended after 1 a.m. EDT Thursday.

Schwartzman beat Anderson 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the third round.

No. 17 Angelique Kerber of Germany and No. 76 Anhelina Kalinina of the Ukraine were scheduled to take the court in the next match at Louis Armstrong Stadium. That match was postponed until Thursday.

Second-round play at the 2021 U.S. Open resumes at noon EDT Thursday. No. 1 Ash Barty of Australia faces No. 78 Clara Tauson of Denmark in the first women's match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany then battles No. 48 Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain on the same court.

No. 12 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland faces No. 106 Martina Trevisan of Italy in the first match at Louis Armstrong Stadium at noon EDT Thursday. No. 53 Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic battles No. 18 Maria Sakkari of Greece in the first match at Grandstand Stadium.

Other singles and doubles matches are scheduled to be held on 13 additional outside courts. Rain is not expected Thursday.

No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 3 Naomi Osaka of Japan, No. 5 Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine and No. 9 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, No. 10 Garbine Muguruza of Spain and No. 13 Simona Halep of Romania were among the top women to advance Wednesday.

No. 2 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, No. 7 Andrey Rublev of Russia and Schwartzman were among the top men to advance to the third round.