Williams Beats Rain and Blocks Cash Drain

The rain continues to disrupt play at the US Open with yesterday's programme severely disrupted. Only one match was completed on Sunday with Serena Williams, the No1 seed, defeating Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1 in 41 minutes to reach the last eight. Blink and you missed it.

Williams was obviously happy enough and so was the United States Tennis Association which, by getting one match finished, was absolved from paying any ticket refunds on the day session. The Sunday night session was a complete washout but the cessation of play was not announced until 9.30pm New York time, thereby allowing the spectators to eat, drink and make merry - and further fill the coffers of the USTA.

Tim Henman failed to get on court, although Greg Rusedski began his third-round match against Pete Sampras and was leading 5-4 when the rain resumed. He should have been a set up, having broken Sampras's serve for a 4-2 lead, but two backhand errors enabled Sampras to break back.

Sunday's schedule changed as many times as the weather forecast and, when what Wimbledon refers to as "a window of opportunity" occurred, the USTA still managed to foul things up, leading Rusedski to complain and get his match with Sampras switched to an earlier time. Not that it ultimately mattered much.

Sampras holds an 8-1 head-to-head lead over Rusedski, the latter's one win coming in the final of the Paris Indoor Open four years ago when he played some of the best tennis of his career to win in straight sets.

Sampras, without a tournament win since his Wimbledon victory two years ago, is desperate to redeem another poor year by doing well here. He appeared tentative and nervous at the start, missing any number of forehands and then dropping his serve. Rusedski twice served for the set at 5-3 but appeared to lose his own nerve on both occasions.

There were no signs on court that Serena Williams was being troubled by the arrest of the man who has been stalking her but after her fourth-round victory over Bedanova the Wimbledon and French Open champion admitted she could not relax: "I'm definitely taking it serious - maybe too serious. I get so tense and so tight." However, she later retracted this statement, claiming she believed she was answering a question about future opponents.

"It's amazing how words get twisted," she said in a written statement. Before her press conference the WTA, the women's ruling body, had ordered reporters not to ask questions about the stalker but they declined.

Richard Williams, whose comments about his daughters have frequently been a hindrance rather than a help, vowed he would kill the German, Albrecht Stromeyer, who was arrested at the weekend, if he ever hurt her or her sister. "I don't think the guy is ever going to give up," said Williams. "At some point something very tragic could take place. Would anything stop me killing this guy if he did something to one of my daughters? I don't think all the police officers in the world could stop me."

The persistent and heavy rain, which has caused flooding in the New York area, has predictably led to calls for a roof on the Arthur Ashe stadium, which holds 23,000 and is rarely, if ever, full. It is by some distance the biggest tennis arena in the world and to put a roof on it would cost a fortune.

However, it would be possible to put a roof on one of the smaller stadium courts in the Flushing Meadows complex. Of the four grand slam venues only Melbourne has the facility for all-weather play, with a retractable roof on both its major courts.