U.S. Open: Men’s final postponed until Monday for third consecutive year

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For the third consecutive year the U.S. Open men’s tennis final has been delayed until Monday. Sunday’s championship match between top-seeded Rafael Nadal and third-seeded Novak Djokovic, which had been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Pacific time, was officially postponed until 1 p.m. Monday because of rain. The match was called about 3:15 p.m.

CBS will carry the match live. Also delayed by rain was the conclusion of the women’s doubles final between Long Beach’s Vania King and her partner Yaroslava Shvedova and the team of Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova. King and Shvedova lost the first set 6-2, won the second 6-4, and were down, 5-4 on serve, in the third. That match will begin at 3 p.m. on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

This is the first time since the men’s and women’s events were combined at the same site in 1935 that the men’s final has been pushed back to Monday for three years in a row. Monday’s forecast is not perfect either. Right now it calls for a 20% chance of thunderstorms.

The delay might benefit Djokovic, who played the second men’s semifinal Saturday and needed five sets to upset second-seeded Roger Federer. Nadal had played first Saturday and defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in three sets.

-- Diane Pucin, reporting from New York