Nadal/Gonzalez QF To Resume Saturday

© Getty ImagesRafael Nadal held a one-set lead before rain suspended play Thursday night.

Update: Rain prevented a resumption of the Nadal-Gonzalez match Friday. It has been rescheduled to resume at 12 noon Saturday. If the weather holds the men's semi-finals will be played Sunday and the final on Monday.

Rain joined the fray Thursday night at the US Open, suspending the quarter-final match between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez in the second set tie-break with Nadal holding a 7-6(4), 6-6(3-2) lead. The match will resume Friday afternoon on Arthur Ashe Stadium following the first women’s semi-final between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters.

The day’s action was called just past midnight, nearly two hours after the players had returned to the locker room for a second time Thursday. Gonzalez had been serving at 2-3 in the tie-break when play was halted. Just moments earlier, the Chilean had prevented Nadal from assuming a two-set advantage as he saved three set points – two with aces and another with a forehand winner.

The first rain delay, lasting an hour and 15 minutes, came at 2-2 in the second set. Despite calling for the trainer following the opening set to attend to an abdominal strain, Nadal had taken the early lead in the match as he first saved two set points on serve to force a tie-break, and then successfully capitalised on his first of two set points.

The winner will now have to play four consecutive days in order to capture the title, with the quarter-final match spanning two days, the semi-finals scheduled for Saturday and the final for Sunday.

Meanwhile, the semi-finalists in the top half of the draw – Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – will have had two days off before Super Saturday and Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, who defeated Marin Cilic in four sets Thursday afternoon, would also have had a day off to prepare for his semi-final match.

Nadal, who is attempting to complete a career Grand Slam with the US Open title, reached the semi-finals last year at Flushing Meadows before falling to Andy Murray. Gonzalez is looking to reach the semi-finals for the first time; he bowed out in the quarter-finals in 2002 (l. to Schalken).

The 23-year-old Spaniard has won their past five meetings, including the gold medal match at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and leads the head-to-head series 6-3.