Persistent rain showers accompanied by a flood warning washed out the entire day’s play at the French Open yesterday for the first time since 2000.

Belgian David Goffin and Latvian Ernests Gulbis had been expected to open proceedings on Court Philippe Chatrier but, after they spent almost three hours in the locker room, organisers told soggy and disappointed fans to apply for a refund from the tournament’s official website.

“Unfortunately, the weather conditions do not allow us to start matches today. No matches will be played today and we apologise for this situation,” an announcer told fans over the PA system.

“All matches are postponed till tomorrow (today).”

The French national weather centre issued its orange warning – the second highest alert level – for parts of northern France including Paris and surrounding areas, and said heavy rains could continue until the evening.

The cancellation of 10 fourth round singles matches, including those featuring world number ones Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams, has now created a major backlog for the tournament organisers.

The washout in 2000 was on May 30, the second day of play, when over 50 first-round matches were held over.

That tournament, however, finished on time.

Rain forced the postponement of the 2012 men’s final, which was held over two days and finished on the Monday.

No ‘Santina Slam’

Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza lost their cool as their hopes of holding all four grand slam titles were dashed following a 6-3 6-2 defeat by Czech duo Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in the third round of the French Open on Sunday.

The Indo-Swiss team dubbed “Santina” were hoping to win four majors in a row after following up last year’s Wimbledon and US Open triumphs with victory in January’s Australian Open.

But the top seeds appeared all at sea on a gloomy day at Roland Garros and their bid to complete the ‘Santina Slam’ ended after the Czechs blasted a service return winner to break Hingis in the final game.

Hingis and Mirza were left fuming at the umpire after a call went against them as they trailed 4-1 in the second set.

Mirza tossed the ball in anger but the duo failed to win the argument, or the match, leaving Krejcikova and Siniakova to celebrate a memorable victory.

It proved to be a bad day for the big names in doubles as Venus and Serena Williams, who were the last women’s team to hold all four majors in 2010, also perished in the third round, beaten 6-3 6-3 by the Dutch-Swedish pairing of Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson.

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