NEW YORK: Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez waited through a steady rain on Friday in hopes of finishing their suspended US Open quarter-final match while the women's semi-finals were also postponed for a day.

After waiting through nearly five hours of downpours, tournament officials moved matches involving defending champion Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters plus Caroline Wozniacki and Yanina Wickmayer.

Nadal and Chilean 11th seed Gonzalez were set to return should the drenching relent as organisers clung to hopes of finishing on Sunday as scheduled. Nadal was aided by the break, having aggravated an abdominal muscle strain while seizing a 7-6 (7/4), 6-6 (3/2) advantage before play was halted on Thursday.

The men's doubles final and a women's doubles semi-final were also awaiting their scheduling fate. While breaks in the drizzle had allowed for some attempts to dry the courts, conditions were far from playable. Five-time defending champion Roger Federer, the Swiss 15-time Slam champion, and Serbian fourth seed Novak Djokovic are set for one men's semi-final while Argentine sixth seed Juan Martin Del Potro awaits the Nadal-Gonzalez winner.

Nadal was also hit by rain last year when his US Open semi-final against Britain's Andy Murray was halted in the third set and finished on Sunday. Both 2008 singles finals were postponed a day, Serena Williams winning on Sunday and Roger Federer in the first US Open men's final pushed to a Monday since 1987, when Ivan Lendl defeated Mats Wilander for the crown.