Feisty Henin-Hardenne wastes no time

Tennis US Open: In a country where Christian fundamentalists demand a literal interpretation of creation, it has only to rain for a couple of days in the final week at this grand slam for Darwinism to impose itself.

Virtually the whole of Monday's schedule was wiped out, and there was more rain yesterday. From now on this will be the survival of the fittest.

The men's tournament is always the toughest to win of the four slams, television demanding that both semi-finals are played on the last Saturday, with the final the next day. Andre Agassi, who has won the title twice, has talked about the standard of tennis in the final being "compromised" by the schedule. "I've also been part of three losing finals here, and in each case I paid a good price for the match I played the day before."

Rain clearly exacerbates the problem. In 1988, leading members of the United States Tennis Association visited Melbourne to look at the Australian Open's centre- court arena with its sliding roof.

The USTA was in the process of drawing up plans for the Arthur Ashe stadium, but when it was opened six years ago there was no roof.

And there are no covers either. So that once the rain stops, the squeegees come out and then three dozen or so men and women get on their hands and knees to dry off the last of the moisture with towels. It is an extraordinary and immensely funny sight, or would be if it were not so pathetic.

The French have plans for a new main stadium, with a roof, scheduled to be opened in 2007, while the All England Club remains open-minded about covering Centre Court, having "explored" the possibility.

Wimbledon has its own particular problems because of the grass, but there is no reason whatsoever why the three show courts at Flushing Meadows should not be roofed over.

Two of the leading women managed a lucky break on Monday evening, with Jennifer Capriati and Justine-Henin Hardenne both completing their fourth-round matches, and getting the jump over their quarter-final rivals. Belgium's Henin-Hardenne, the number-two seed, defeated Russia's Dinara Safina, sister of Marat Safin, 6-0, 6-3, and Capriati, seeded six, knocked out another Russian, Elena Dementieva 6-2, 7-5.

Henin-Hardenne did not get started against Safina until after 10pm, with drizzle still falling. Having waited around for most of the day, the feisty French Open champion was in no mood to be messed around.

She knew there was a dry spell in the offing, so that when the tournament referee Brian Earley appeared to be prevaricating, the Belgian laid it on the line.

The inexperienced Russian was almost completely overwhelmed, and it was not until she was 5-1 down in the second set that she staged any sort of prolonged fight. "The crowd was behind her 100 per cent and getting a little bit excited. They wanted more tennis," said Henin Hardenne.

Capriati's match was much more disjointed, with three rain delays totalling five hours and 15 minutes. "It was getting pretty annoying," said the American, who has never won the US Open title, and is the firm favourite in the hearts of the New York crowd.

Dementieva was a semi-finalist here in 2000, when she became the first Russian women to reach the last four at this tournament and later that year she won a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics, losing to Venus Williams in the final.

Unfortunately, the clear promise she displayed then as an 18-year-old has since diminished.

Dementieva, like so many of the modern generation, gives the ball the most tremendous of clouts, but appears to have little idea how to develop a rally.

Added to this, her second serve, a weird round-arm motion, is a monstrosity - a word often used of the 23,000 capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium which, when it rains as it did yesterday, becomes a white elephant.