US number one James Blake dodged heavy rain and thunder to secure a quickfire win but other stars were not so lucky as the Olympic tennis tournament faced serious weather disruption on Sunday.
Blake, Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Gonzalez waited out a two-hour rain delay before booking their place in the second round, but top US women's seed Serena Williams was frustrated by a series of showers.
Williams was on and off Centre Court and was leading Belarus's Olga Govortsova 6-3, 2-1 when the heavens opened with a vengeance, forcing a halt until at least 6:00 pm (1000 GMT).
Only nine of 18 matches in the morning session were completed, giving officials a headache as they juggle the packed singles and doubles schedule. Outgoing world number one Roger Federer was among those affected with his evening match against Dmitry Tursunov already delayed. Blake drew inspiration from Michael Phelps' world-record 400m medley swim as he shrugged off the initial rain delay to beat Australia's Chris Guccione 6-3, 7-6 (7/3). Athens bronze medallist Gonzalez of Chile eased past China's Sun Peng 6-4, 6-4 while Russian fourth seed Davydenko overcame dangerous Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-2.
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