Heavy rain repeatedly halted second round action for Polish tennis players Magdalena Frech and Maja Chwalinska at the Cincinnati WTA 1000 tournament on Monday.
Organisers forced the players off the outdoor hard courts twice during the evening session, announcing that play would not resume before 10:30 p.m. Polish time following a second downpour.
Three Polish women were scheduled to compete in the second round on what was expected to be a busy day of play. Iga Swiatek was the only Polish player to finish her match, coming back from a set down to beat Maria Sakkari of Greece 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 after starting at 5:10 p.m. Polish time.
Magdalena Frech faced Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan on centre court, starting their match at 7:27 p.m. Polish time. The players almost completed the opening set before rain began to pick up strength at 5-4, 15-0 in favor of Rybakina, forcing both competitors to leave the court.
Repeated rain disruptions
Maja Chwalinska and her opponent Diana Shnaider of Russia stepped onto an outer court at 8:04 p.m. Polish time. Rain began to fall before the warm-up, but the referee ordered the coin toss, which Chwalinska won. Heavy rain forced them off before a single point could be played.
Match official updates initially stated that play would not resume before 9:00 p.m. Polish time. Both matches restarted on schedule at 9:00 p.m., but fresh rain swept over the venue less than an hour later.
Frech was trailing Rybakina 6-4, 4-3, with the score at 40-40 in the eighth game of the second set when play was halted for the second time. On the outer court, Shnaider held a 5-2 lead over Chwalinska when the rain returned.
Background and tournament history
The Cincinnati Open, also known as the Western and Southern Open, is one of the premier WTA 1000 events on the professional tennis calendar. Played on outdoor hard courts in Ohio, the tournament serves as a key warm-up event ahead of the US Open, drawing top-ranked players from around the world.
The weather disruption marked the second time in the tournament that Chwalinska faced weather delays. In her first round match against Spanish player Cristina Bucsa, play was stopped due to a storm threat near Cincinnati with the score tied at 1-1 in the second set as Chwalinska prepared to serve.
That initial weather delay in the first round lasted one hour and fifteen minutes before players were able to return to the court and complete the match.
