Weather set to delay Murray

Andy Murray could face a frustrating wait to get his grand slam semi-final debut under way later today at the US Open as Tropical Storm Hanna closes in on the New York area.

British number one and sixth seed Murray is due to face world number one Rafael Nadal in both men’s first US Open semi-final appearance.

The pair have been scheduled on court at the Arthur Ashe Stadium to follow the opening match between number two seed and defending champion Roger Federer and number three Novak Djokovic.

There is a strong possibility Nadal and Murray may even have their match moved to Louis Armstrong Stadium, the second show court at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, in order to beat the rain by playing both semis concurrently.

Tropical Storm Hanna moved up the east coast of America towards the New York area last night, where increased winds began to affect play during yesterday’s women’s semi-finals.

The rain was forecast to begin late yesterday night until early morning before subsiding on Saturday afternoon and resuming throughout the evening, with the US National Weather Service forecasting between three and six inches of rain and flooding “across highly urbanised and poor drainage areas”.

The start of play on Saturday for the men’s semi-finals, which traditionally begins at midday local time, has been brought forward to 11am Eastern time (4pm BST).

Saturday’s women’s singles final, which will feature number two Jelena Jankovic, who reached her first grand slam final with victory over Elena Dementieva yesterday afternoon, and Serena Williams, who defeated Dinara Safina, is scheduled to start at 7pm (12am BST).

The organising US Tennis Association issued an inclement weather advisory yesterday evening outlining two scenarios in the event of all or some play being lost today.

If both the day and night sessions are rained out, the men’s semi-finals would be rescheduled for a Sunday start at 1pm EDT (6pm BST) with the women’s final reset for a 9pm EDT (2am BST) start and the men’s singles final shifted to Monday at 4pm EDT (9pm BST).

That scenario would also play out if the men’s semis are not completed.

If just the women’s final was rained out on Saturday, both finals would be played on Sunday in separate sessions, one beginning at 4pm EDT (9pm BST), the other at 9pm (2am BST) with the USTA deciding the order of play depending on when the men’s semi-finals were concluded.

Either way, Murray and co are in for a difficult weekend.

Murray did get a confidence boost ahead of his clash with the French Open, Wimbledon and Olympic champion, though, when Nadal admitted he would consider merely getting to the semis as an achievement.

“If I am not happy and I’m in the semi-finals of the US Open I’m going to be very stupid, no?” Nadal said.

“For me, it’s very important but I’m not playing like two or three weeks ago in Beijing – I’m not playing at the same level as I did in Beijing.

“But if you’re in the semi-finals, there has to be something good there. For sure, I’m doing well.

“The important thing is I have another match to try to improve a little bit more. I feel better today than the last days in some moments, so I hope be at 100% for the semi-finals.”