Steady rain threatens completion at Eastbourne

Jun 17, 2011, 15:08 GMT

Eastbourne, England - The Eastbourne grass-court tournament continued to be plagued by rain Friday, with all four men's and women's semi-finals put on hold.

Forecast called for poor weather throughout the rest of the day and into the evening, making it look increasingly likely that a scheduled Saturday conclusion might be a stretch for officials.

The south coast event, last ATP and WTA tune-up prior to Monday's start of Wimbledon, had dodged bad weather all week.

Waiting to get onto court in the women's draw were fifth seed Czech Petra Kvitova, who was bidding for the final against Daniela Hantuchova.

The Slovak ended a 10-match loss streak to Venus Williams a day earlier with a quarter-final knock-out of the former number one.

2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli was to play the second semi against Australian seventh seed Samantha Stosur.

In men's play, the last seed in contention, Serb number three Janko Tipsarevic was due to face Japan's Kei Nishikori while Italian Andreas Seppi was to take on Igor Kunitsyn of Russia.

The tournament is due to end on Saturday to allow players a day to acclimatize in London before the Grand Slam begins.

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