Third-round play at Wimbledon gets underway after 2-hour rain delay

LONDON (AP) — Rain delayed the start of play by two hours at Wimbledon on Friday and threatened to disrupt much of the day at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.

Play on the outside courts didn’t start until around 1:15 p.m. — shortly after the first scheduled match on No. 1 Court, where French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini was playing 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu under the retractable roof.

The first third-round matches had been scheduled to start at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT), but the covers remained pulled over the outside courts throughout the morning at the All England Club.

The skies remained cloudy even as play began, and the local forecast calls for showers throughout the day.

On Centre Court, which also has a retractable roof, defending men’s champion Carlos Alcaraz was playing Frances Tiafoe at 1:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) for a place in the fourth round. ___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis