Weather Update 3: Even shorter format for 18 & Over 4.5 men and women

As noted in weather update 2, matches for day 1 were not finished in Arlington for the 4.5 men and women.  I understand they did get them finished early this morning, I believe using the few indoor courts they were able to secure, but there has been no play so far today.

I believe some indoor courts have been secured, but not until the evening, and the forecast has improved, rain may stop by 5pm, so I suppose outdoor courts could be playable by 6pm or so.

I just got an update from someone at the even that they were told their next match will be at 6:30pm indoors, and take a seat for this, with an even shorter format.

The format I was told is each individual match will be one set to 4 win by 2, no-ad scoring, with a first to 7 win by 2 tie-break at 4-4.

This will keep matches short, and perhaps they can get enough matches in to have a semis and final tomorrow, or at least finish up the day 2 matches first thing so the semis and final can also be completed with this or another slightly less short format.

Given how much such a short format makes things unpredictable, I hesitate to do an updated prediction, but stay tuned, I probably will anyway.

Note that this is certainly not ideal, but is perhaps the best that could be done given the situation.  Let's hope the USTA learns and comes up with better contingency plans (different sites, secure indoor courts earlier) in the future.