Hong Kong Tennis Open: Garbine Muguruza is worth the wait after ‘long day’ of rain delays
Former world No 1 is quietly clicking into gear at Victoria Park, and not even a lengthy rain delay can stop her momentum as she instils herself as favourite
As heavy rain lashed Hong Kong for most of the afternoon, the original 3pm start was put back half a dozen times by organisers, with some players beginning to give up hope.
“It’s true, it was a long day of waiting,” she said. “At some point I thought maybe I was not gonna play, but I’d rather play today, so yeah I’m happy.”
Fortunately, the rain ceased around 6pm, and after a Herculean effort by seemingly every available staff member on hand, the courts were dried sufficiently for play to get under way at 7.30pm.
The Spaniard eventually walked out at 10.21pm for the second match on centre court, and duly cruised through in one hour and 15 minutes
Victory for Muguruza set up a quarter-final against Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum, who saw off Alize Cornet in three sets.
That match went to two hours and 43 minutes, further delaying Muguruza’s start time.