Mumbai Open finals delayed by rain

Mumbai, Oct 1 (UNI) The incessant rains since this morning resulted in the delay of the finals of 3,80,000 dollar Kingfisher Airlines Open Tennis tournament being held at the CCI hard courts here today.

The finals which were to start at 1700 hrs, have been delayed and the ATP would take a decision based on the weather at 1930 hrs whether play would be possible today, Gaurav Natekar, Tournament Director told reporters.

He said at the moment the courts are 70 per cent ready and if there is no more rain, then we will be able to start by 1845 hrs.

However, if it rains, then the final call on play today will be taken at 1930 hrs.

He said if the play was not possible, then the finals would be played tomorrow and start at 1600 hrs.

Asked if the players have already booked their flights and have to reach another tournament venue, Natekar said the ATP also gives a one day buffer and the players have to wait for 24 hours to complete their matches.

If the matches get washed out tomorrow also, then the players are declared as runners-up and they get the runners-up prize money for both the singles and doubles events, he added.

Fourth seed Dmitry Trusunov from Russia is scheduled to take on the third seed from the Czech Republic Tomas Berdych in the singles final, while the doubles final will pit the Indian pair Rohan Bopanna and Mustafa Ghouse against the third seeded Indian/Croatia pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Mario Ancic.

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