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PARIS – Heavy rains forced the remaining two quarterfinals in men's and women's singles at the French Open to be postponed on Wednesday.
The four matches concerned, including those involving defending women's champion Simona Halep and world number-one Novak Djokovic, will be played on Thursday.
This delay means that the semifinals will now be played with the men's semi-finals on Friday, weather permitting. Tournament director Guy Forget said the four games would likely be played on three courts to ensure fair play for all players.
The men's semi-finals would be played as expected on the Philippe Chatrier court, while the women's semifinals would be split between the two largest courts: Court Suzanne Lenglen and Court Simonne Mathieu.
"We are trying to be fair to everyone," Forget told reporters on Wednesday. "We are thinking about this option, and why not invite them to play on a third pitch?" We know that Simonne Mathieu is a field that is very successful if things get worse.
Forecasts for Paris are favorable for Thursday – sunshine and temperatures around 68 degrees – but precipitation for Friday is more abundant. It could also jeopardize the weekend program – the women's final on Saturday and the men's final on Sunday.
In the women's quarterfinals, Halep, seeded third, will face Amanda Anisimova, American teenager, while Ash Barty, eighth seeded, will meet Madison Keys, a fourth seed.
"The ideal would be that both players play [in the women’s semifinals] to get the same recovery time, "said Forget. And the best way to get this result is for them to play their matches at the same time. If there is an interruption of rain, they are interrupted at the same time. In this way, no player will finish the match 24 hours before the other. We know that the weather will be difficult and we want to avoid any additional problems. "
The No. 26 Briton, Johanna Konta, has already qualified for the semi-finals, where she will meet Marketa Vondrousova, 19, unclassified.
In the men's standings, Djokovic, the favorite, will have 25 Grand Slam victories over No. 5 Alexander Zverev, and French Open finalist Dominic Thiem will play against Karen Khachanov, number 10.
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have already qualified for the semi-finals with victories on Tuesday, and Forget said it was almost certain that this match would be the first contested Friday. This would give players from the other half of the draw more time to recover after Thursday's matches.
Forget said that he still hoped to have good weather, but he said that a Monday final – as was the case in 2012 when Nadal and Djokovic were stranded – is possible.
"We have found that historically we can play the men's finals on Monday," Forget said. "We remember the final between Djokovic and Nadal, and we can think of the same thing for women in terms of a disaster scenario.
"Now, to date, we are hopeful for [Thursday]. Tomorrow's games are pretty important. Then meteorologists will give their forecasts for Friday, and we will decide Friday's schedule, which will be extremely difficult to organize given what I just said. But now, all doors are open and we can adapt. "
The game was wiped out by the rain at the Open de France for a day in 2016. Before that, it had not happened since 2000.
Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam venue without a covered yard. a retractable roof should be added to the main stadium before the tournament next year.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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