Nadal vs. Federer 2005 French Open Semi-Final
AP 12:36 p.m. EDT May 22, 2016
(Photo: The Associated Press)
PARIS (AP) The Latest on the French Open (all times local):
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6:30 p.m.
Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic has closed out a comfortable 6-0, 6-2 win against Vitalia Diatchenko, getting back to the warmth of the locker room just as rain picked up again at the French Open and forced the cancellation of all remaining matches Sunday.
The runner-up to Serena Williams last year at Roland Garros made light work of the Russian ranked 210 spots below her.
Safarova didn"t let a mid-match rain delay of nearly three hours throw off her rhythm. The 11th seed closed out the first-round match as umpires on other courts were pulling players off court again for more rain.
Organizers announced that because players were sliding on the tramlines, it was too risky for them to continue and that play wouldn"t resume before Monday morning.
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5:50 p.m.
Heavy showers have stopped and play has resumed under still overcast skies at the French Open.
The rain delay of nearly three hours has forced the postponement of matches that were scheduled for later Sunday, the tournament"s opening day.
But fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan is back on Court Philippe Chatrier, resuming his match against Simone Bolelli of Italy, with a 6-1, 5-4 lead.
Other matches that were interrupted mid-flow are also resuming. But all other matches on Sunday"s schedule that had yet to start are postponed.
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3:50 p.m.
With an eye on the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Serena and Venus Williams are entered in women"s doubles at the French Open their first Grand Slam tournament as a team since 2014.
In the doubles draw for Roland Garros, announced Sunday, the sisters will open against Jelena Ostapenko and Yulia Putintseva.
The Williams-Williams pairing has not appeared in a bracket at a major since the U.S. Open two years ago. They hadn"t played together anywhere since then until this month at the Italian Open, where they lost their first match.
The American siblings already have won three gold medals in doubles, at the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Summer Games. They also own 13 Grand Slam titles as a pair, most recently at Wimbledon in 2012.
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3:10 p.m.
Play is being delayed on all courts at the French Open because of rain.
Among the matches in progress, fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan leads Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-1, 5-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier, and No. 23 Jack Sock of the United States leads Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-1.
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1:55 p.m.
Nick Kyrgios was warned by a French Open chair umpire for shouting at a ballkid to retrieve a towel, leading to a prolonged and angry monologue by the 21-year-old Australian.
Otherwise, the 17th-seeded Kyrgios did just fine in his first-round match Sunday.
Kyrgios wound up with a 7-6, (6), 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over Marco Cecchinato, a 23-year-old Italian ranked 124th who has lost all four Grand Slam matches in his career.
In the first-set tiebreaker, umpire Carlos Ramos gave Kyrgios a code violation warning over the way the player called for a towel between points. That prompted a string of curse-filled arguments from Kyrgios.
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1:40 p.m
Petra Kvitova is through to the second round of the French Open after battling more than 2 hours on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Danka Kovinic came close to creating the first upset of this year"s tournament but failed to build on her momentum when she served for the match in the deciding set.
She broke for a 5-4 lead after Kvitova hit three double faults but the two-time Wimbledon champion won the next three games to seal the match. The 10th-seeded Kvitova won 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
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12:50 a.m.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is having trouble on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The 10th-seeded Czech looked in control after breaking Danka Kovinic twice to win the first set 6-2 but dropped the second 6-4.
Kovinic has never gone beyond the second round at any Grand Slam tournament while Kvitova"s best result at the French Open is a semifinalist spot back in 2012.
Earlier, 24th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova became the first player to advance to the second round with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Sara Sorribes Tormo.
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11:35 a.m.
Despite rain much of the morning, the French Open has started.
The forecast calls for showers on Sunday, but a break in the weather allowed two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova onto Court Philippe Chatrier to face 59th-ranked Danka Kovinic of Montenegro in a first-round match.
Other players scheduled to play on Day 1 of the clay-court tournament include 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Kei Nishikori, eighth-seeded Milos Raonic, and 2015 Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza.
The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that begins on a Sunday.
About six months after the deadly attacks in Paris, heightened security at Roland Garros was noticeable, including extra bag checks and patdowns that led to longer-than-usual waits at the entrance gates.
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Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2016/05/22/the-latest-rain-greets-french-open-start/84739436/
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