Rain delays Murray

Andy Murray was held up by torrential rain in New York as 'Super Saturday' at the US Open got off to a soggy start.

The tournament's unique scheduling means the men's singles semi-finals and women's singles final are played on the same day, leaving little leeway for bad weather.

And conditions at the scheduled start time of 11am could hardly have been worse, with Flushing Meadows caught in the middle of a severe storm, with a tornado warning for the area.

Bad weather has blighted the tournament in recent years and there was a real possibility of the men's final being delayed until Monday for the fifth successive year.

Murray was due to be on court first for his semi-final against Tomas Berdych, to be followed by defending champion Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer before the women's final between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka in the evening.

Another possibility would be to move Murray's match from Arthur Ashe Stadium to Louis Armstrong and play both semi-finals at the same time, an option that certainly would not please the Scot who has struggled on Flushing Meadows' second court.