BNP Paribas Open: Rain suspends matches, postpones others until Friday in Indian Wells
It's been an unusual start to the tennis tournament that is typically adored by professional tennis players, in part because of the sunny, warm weather that often accompanies it.
For the second consecutive night, play was paused due to rain. Five of Thursday's matches at the BNP Paribas Open were suspended until around 9:30 p.m. when the courts were dried and play could resume. Twelve others have been moved to Friday due to rain for the second consecutive day at the Indian Wells tournament.
Play was officially suspended just before 7:30 p.m. As of 9 p.m. the facilities crew feverishly worked to dry the courts with leaf blowers in an effort to get some play in.
After play was suspended a day earlier on Wednesday, the tournament shuffled Thursday's schedule to accommodate 14 postponed matches, making Thursday one of the busier days in the tournament's recent history.
Canadian Milos Raonic and India's Sumit Nagal had just finished their first set on Stadium Court when the rain began on Thursday. Raonic, who was set to play Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal before Nadal withdrew Wednesday, won the first set, 6-3.
American Sloane Stephens and Mayar Sherif of Egypt were tied, 5-5, in the first set inside Stadium 2, Bernabé Zapata Miralles of Spain led Fabio Fognini of Italy, 2-1, in the third set of their match in Stadium 3 and American Ethan Quinn led countryman Patrick Kypson, 3-2, in the second set after Kypson won the first inside Stadium 5.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: Play suspended Thursday at Indian Wells
