Rain, rain go away. … Women’s match makes it through a set. Men’s never begins.
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Some tennis was played Sunday. Some rain came down Sunday. There was more of the latter.
Both were expected entering the DC Open finals, where Jessica Pegula was set to face Alexandra Eala on the women’s side and Taylor Fritz was matched up with Rafael Jódar on the men’s side. The division of the two variables was the only problem.
After roughly an hour of play between Pegula and Eala — Pegula taking the first set 6-4, Eala responding 2-1 in the second — thunderstorms set in from 4 p.m. to shortly after 9 p.m., when the tournament announced the singles finals would conclude Monday afternoon.
All of that came after the women’s final shifted up to start at noon in anticipation of the socked-in afternoon radar. Pegula and Eala took the court, warming up as the clouds shifted above. But as they prepared for first serve, lightning struck in the distance, the crowd dispersed, and Rock Creek Park’s William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center settled into a rhythm.
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A little less than three hours later, Pegula and Eala retook the court, pushing through the first set and a bit of the second, before the rain once more joined the fray. From there, the sky would clear every few hours. The venue staff came out, sponging and blowing puddles. Fans departed from the property’s tent-covered food court, which turned into a FEMA nightmare as hundreds lay across the floor, leaned on food counters and begged kitchen workers for any news.
Yet just as they would go out, the rain would come once more. With thunderstorms projected for the rest of Sunday night, Monday was decidedly best.
The women’s final is scheduled to resume at noon. Upon its conclusion, and not before 1 p.m., the men’s final will follow.
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