Rain, rain, go away: French Open play delayed again Tuesday
PARIS (AP) So much for getting the French Open back on schedule: It's raining again at Roland Garros.
One day after the first complete washout of a day of play at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament in 16 years, more showers on Tuesday are delaying any action.
Tarps were briefly removed shortly before the scheduled start of play in hopes of getting started at 11 a.m. local time - three hours earlier than normal on the tournament's second Tuesday - but then the courts were covered again because a light drizzle grew heavier.
Monday was the first day entirely wiped out by wet weather at the French Open since May 30, 2000.
With a backlog of suspended or postponed matches, organizers were hoping to be able to make progress Tuesday and avoid the possibility of needing to push back the end of the tournament. As of now, there are still fourth-round matches in both the men's and women's singles draws that have not begun.
The women's singles final is supposed to be Saturday, with the men's singles final on Sunday.
Among the matches that are planned for Tuesday: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic against 14th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut on Court Philippe Chatrier, playing for a place in the quarterfinals.
That would be followed by defending champion Serena Williams in her delayed fourth-round match against 18th-seeded Elina Svitolina.
The first men's quarterfinals are also listed on the schedule, weather permitting: Second-seeded Andy Murray against No. 9 Richard Gasquet, and defending champion Stan Wawrinka against Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
