First blood to Rafael Nadal as rain frustrates again

• It was another frustrating night for tennis fans in New York as rain disrupted the already delayed final, but at least play got under way this time. Picture: Al Bello/Getty Images

Play got under way on schedule and Nadal took a first step towards the completion of his career Grand Slam as he won the opening set 6-4. But midway through a tantalisingly poised second set, with the scores tied at 4-4, the rain returned and the players had to depart Arthur Ashe Stadium. The final, which had been completely washed out on Sunday evening, was expected to resume around 1am British time

Nadal made a fine start in his bid to become only the seventh man in history to win all four Grand Slam titles. The world No 1 looked set for an easy night when he broke Djokovic in the first game of the match, after which the Serb looked to be having problems with an injury to his left leg.

But Djokovic withstood Nadal's early assault and fought back to break Nadal and level the match at 2-2 at precisely the time it seemed the Spaniard might go on to race away with the set.

Nadal converted his sixth break point opportunity to secure his second break and with his serve beginning to fire he refused to give his opponent another look-in as he served out comfortably for the lead.

No sooner had Nadal got the first set in the bag then some unfamiliar frailties began to set in, and it was no surprise when Djokovic seized on a pair of errors to break for a 3-1 lead.

Suddenly revitalised and firing winners all over the court, Djokovic extended his lead to 4-1, more than matching his opponent for power and looking a good bet to level the match at one set all.

But serving at 4-2 it was Djokovic who faltered, a netted volley giving Nadal his first of three break-back points, the Spaniard taking his third chance with a big backhand winner down the line.

Recovering some of his first set form, Nadal won three games in succession to level the match at 4-4 as heavy clouds began to gather overhead.

When the rain did come at 30-30 on the Djokovic serve it will have come as a relief to the Serb. And with the delay expected to last at least a couple of hours Djokovic looked like having plenty of time to regroup.

Earlier, authorities defended their decision to carry on staging the US Open without the benefit of a covered court even as the tournament was pushed into a Monday finish for the third year in a row. Both the Australian Open and Wimbledon championships have retractable roofs to deal with dodgy weather and French Open officials have discussed the possibility.

"It's technically complex and financially challenging," said United States Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier."At a cost of more than $150 million, do you spend that on a roof or continue to fund grassroots tennis programmes in this country?"

Widmaier said $100 million had been spent on improvements at the Flushing Meadows complex in the last five years, with the biggest expense being a new indoor training centre.

With American tennis going through its leanest ever spell - no American men have made it to the last eight in New York for the past two years - there is competing pressures for the USTA's funds.

Widmaier said money from the US Open was funneled into player development, grants and scholarships and to improving tennis facilities around the country, which included providing help to resurface 1,100 courts across the United States.

He added that USTA president Lucy Garvin is heading a committee that will be make recommendations on future improvements to the Billie-Jean King National Tennis Center complex and some options being looked at included covering smaller courts at less expense.

The tournament's second court, Louis Armstrong Stadium, seats 10,500 compared to 23,771 at Arthur Ashe Stadium - the largest tennis arena in the world, which was rennovated without a roof in the mid-1990s.