ANDY MURRAY could face a frustrating wait to get his grand slam semi-final debut under way this evening at the US Open as Tropical Storm Hanna closes in on the New York area.
British No.1 and sixth seed Murray is due to face world No.1 Rafael Nadal in both men's first US Open semi-final appearance.
The pair have been scheduled on court at the Arthur Ashe Stadium to follow the opening match between No.2 seed and defendi
ng champion Roger Federer and No.3 Novak Djokovic.
There is a strong possibility Nadal and Murray may even have their match moved to Louis Armstrong Stadium, the second show court at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, in order to beat the rain by playing both semis concurrently.
Tropical Storm Hanna moved up the east coast of America towards the New York area last night, where increased winds began to affect play during yesterday's women's semi-finals.
The rain was forecast to begin late last night until early morning before subsiding this afternoon and resuming throughout the evening, with the US National Weather Service forecasting between three and six inches of rain and flooding "across highly urbanised and poor drainage areas".
The start of play today for the men's semi-finals, which traditionally begins at midday local time, has been brought forward to 11am Eastern time (4pm BST).
History may not be on Murray's side, but he will go into the semi-final intent on making a little of his own.
The Scot has not beaten Nadal in any of their five meetings to date.
Yet, as Murray prepares for the first grand slam semi-final of his career, his Spanish opponent has handed him a big confidence booster.
Having come from a set down to defeat unseeded American Mardy Fish in the small hours of Thursday morning in New York, Nadal admitted he was not at the peak of his powers and needed to find some form.
The Spaniard – who is looking to add a third grand slam title this year to his French Open, Wimbledon and Olympic triumphs – said: "I'm not playing like two or three weeks ago in Beijing. But if you're in the semi-finals, there has to be something good there. For sure, I'm doing well.
"The important thing I have another match for try to improve a little bit more.
"I hope be at 100 per cent for the semi-finals."
For Murray, another parallel from which to draw encouragement is that Nadal's only defeat in the majors came at the Australian Open, when the victor was last-four debutant Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Yet, the Scot is concentrating on his own improvement at the end of a year that has brought three tournament victories, including his first Masters Series success in Cincinnati, as well as wins over both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
It has led Murray to revise the goals he set for himself at the start of 2008.
"I wanted to try to make the Masters Cup this year, and I obviously missed that by one match last year, even though I missed three-and-a-half months with the wrist injury," he said.
"So I'm happy that I'm pretty sure I've confirmed myself in the Masters Cup. But I think how you do in slams is how you're remembered in tennis, and I wanted to improve my record in them. I've definitely done that this year and hopefully I can keep it going in the next match."
The full article contains 598 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
