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| June 6, 2002 | Thursday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 24,1423 |
Rain comes to Agassi’s rescue
PARIS, June 5: Rain had the final word at the French Open Wednesday when officials finally bowed to player pressure and allowed Andre Agassi and Juan Carlos Ferrero to leave centre court in drizzling rain and fading daylight.
The two will resume their quarterfinal with Ferrero leading 6-3, 1-0 on Thursday.
Chief umpire Stefan Fransson of Sweden called the players off court at 1710 GMT — more than five hours after torrential showers had halted their match for the first time.
The pair had managed to play barely 10 minutes in light rain when Agassi asked for Fransson.
The Swede was already walking on to court and both players left to whistles and jeers from the 200 hardy souls who had braved a day of diabolical weather in the French capital.
Organisers had desperately tried to keep the match going.
If less than two hours play is possible Wednesday, organisers face a hefty pay-out to compensate ticketholders.
Play was continuing on outside courts in the junior tournament, however.
Just 30 minutes play had been possible before the resumption, raising fears that Thursday’s women’s semifinals could be scheduled for Court Suzanne Lenglen, instead of the traditional Centre Court stage.
Both 1999 champion Agassi and twice-runner-up Alex Corretja have matches to finish on Centre Court, and poor weather is forecast for Thursday too.
The Agassi-Ferrero match had been due to be followed by Corretja and Romanian Andrei Pavel who were stopped on Tuesday evening because of bad light. Corretja was leading 7-6, 7-5, 4-5.
As the matches began on Centre Court, they will have to be completed there too.
If the women are moved it is sure to infuriate some of them who felt slighted that their quarterfinals were played on Suzanne Lenglen, the Roland Garros second showcourt.
Top seed and defending champion Jennifer Capriati faces Serena Williams and second seed Venus Williams meets Argentine Clarisa Fernandez in those semifinal matches.
Unseasonably cold weather and rain lashed the French capital all day long.
The start of action had been delayed for 90 minutes due to a violent storm and torrential rainfall.
Fans huddled in corridors and under glistening awnings throughout the Roland Garros grounds in a bid to keep dry.
Court workers uncovered the centre court several times during the day, lifting fans’ hopes, but on each occasion a new cloud-burst foiled organisers’ plans.
Meanwhile, Capriati, unfancied Fernandez and perhaps overconfidence stand in the way of a second Grand Slam final between theWilliams sisters at Roland Garros Saturday.
Elder sister Venus beat Serena at the 2001 US Open, their one previous Grand Slam final.
Before them, Maud and Lilian Watson, in 1884 at Wimbledon, had been the only sisters to meet in a Grand Slam final.
But a Williams final on Saturday would be a Parisian first.
Before the final however, two players stand in their way and Capriati looks the best placed to spoil their show.
Even though the world number one, who will lose her top spot on Monday to Venus whatever happens, is 4-5 down in her previous head to heads with Serena, she is ready for the match.
“We’ve played many times. She’s beaten me the last few times but we haven’t played in a grand slam in a while,” said Capriati, who has lost her three clashes with Serena so far this season.
“Sometimes she gets nervous in the grand slams or maybe she doesn’t play as well or I play better,” she added.
“You know, I’m going in there thinking that she’s really like the one to beat now, and she’s playing really well and top of her game.
“It’s going to be the toughest match for me,” she said.
Serena said their Thursday clash would be a different story from their most recent encounters in Scottsdale, Miami and Rome.
“Whatever happened in the past won’t happen again because this is a new match, it’s totally new — no one is going to remember the past.
“I know I won’t. She has a couple of wins against me, I have a few against her. I have to stay serious for the moment now,” she said.
On paper, Serena might look favourite if only because of her recent trend of success against Capriati but also because of her huge improvement on clay — she won in Rome and lost in the final in Berlin this year.—Reuters
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