Roddick shrugs off delays, advances

NEW YORK (AP) - At one point, Andy Roddick looked up and saw a fan scaling a chain-link fence behind tiny Court 13, hoping to catch a peek of the 2003 U.S. Open champion's victory Thursday.

At another point, a baby's loud cries provided a distraction at the 584-seat venue.

"At least," Roddick deadpanned later, "there wasn't a baby crying on the fence."

It was that sort of day at this most unusual U.S. Open.

Rain finally gave way to sun in the morning, but chaos still managed to reign. A crack near a baseline in the tournament's second-biggest stadium let water seep through, halting Roddick's already twice-delayed match against David Ferrer until they were moved to a court often used by juniors.

And because of showers earlier this week, the U.S. Tennis Association extended the tournament, delaying the men's final by 24 hours to Monday at 1 p.m. PDT. The women's final was shifted from Saturday night to Sunday at 1 p.m.

Amid all of Thursday's goings-on - which also included complaints about the schedule both before and after it was changed; talk by Roddick and others about forming a union; and treatment by a trainer for both No. 1 Novak Djokovic and his opponent, who eventually quit, then apologized to Djokovic - at least there was plenty of tennis played, quite a change from Tuesday's total washout and Wednesday's 15 minutes of action.

Roddick, defending champion Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and John Isner all won to reach the quarterfinals. On the other side of the men's draw, Djokovic and Roger Federer set up a semifinal showdown; it's the fifth consecutive year they'll meet at the U.S. Open and a rematch from this year's French Open, where Federer handed Djokovic one of his two losses in 2011. Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Sam Stosur and Angelique Kerber filled the four spots in the women's semifinals.