Estoril Open News and Events

Centralito

© Joao Lagos Sports

Rain delayed the start of play at the Estoril Open for the first time during the championships on Saturday.

The women's singles and doubles final were delayed by approximately 20 minutes by a rain shower, which quickly passed the Estadio Nacional.

Belgian Yanina Wickmayer and Americans Racquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears went on to wrap up the singles and doubles titles respectively.

At 2:42 p.m. local time, shortly after the women’s singles trophy ceremony, rain began to fall again leaving the ground staff to quickly cover the show courts.

It was not until 4:28 p.m. that ground staff was able to take the tarpaulin covers off Central Court and Centralito to prepare for the start of the men's semi-finals.

Tournament organisers announced that James Blake and 2003 champion Nikolay Davydenko would contest their semi-final on Central Court, while Albert Montanes would play Paul Capdeville on Centralito at the same time.

Blake was leading Davydenko 3-1 and Montanes held a 3-0 lead over Capdeville when rain interrupted play again after 15 minutes of play at 5:22 p.m.

The players did not return to the Central Court and Centralito until 7:00 pm.