NEW YORK: Severe weather conditions caused the US Open to be suspended on Saturday, meaning the men’s singles final will be played on a Monday for a fifth successive year.

With a tornado watch in operation, and violent thunderstorms expected, the second men’s semi-final was suspended at 1711 local time (2111GMT) with Spain’s David Ferrer leading defending champion Novak Djokovic 5-2 in the first set.

The women’s singles final between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka, set for Saturday night, had already been put back to Sunday.

Andy Murray had already made sure of his place in the men’s final earlier Saturday after beating Tomas Berdych.

“Severe weather is coming and we needed to give patrons time to get out of the stadium and into their cars,” said tournament director David Brewer as the Billie Jean King Tennis Center was evacuated.

“The decision was taken to stop play for the day.”

The decision was greeted with boos from the crowd of 20,000 inside Arthur Ashe Stadium and general bemusement at the refusal of the organisers to move the Ferrer-Djokovic match to another court while the weather was still clear.

The semi-final will resume at 1100 Sunday (1500GMT) with the women’s final starting at 1630 (2030GMT).

On Monday, the men’s final will begin at 1600 (2000GMT).