French Open 2017: Men's Quarterfinals Postponed Until Wednesday Due to Weather

Inclement weather forced the men's quarterfinals to be completely canceled Tuesday, according to the French Open's official Twitter account:

The scheduled matchups included No. 20 seed Pablo Carreno Busta facing No. 4 Rafael Nadal and No. 6 Dominic Thiem taking on No. 2 Novak Djokovic.

The other quarterfinal matchups, originally scheduled for Wednesday, include No. 1 Andy Murray facing No. 8 Kei Nishikori and No. 3 Stan Wawrinka facing No. 7 Marin Cilic. The tournament released an updated schedule for Wednesday:

The rains paused long enough for the women's quarterfinals scheduled on Tuesday to be completed, meanwhile, as No. 30 Timea Bacsinszky and Jeļena Ostapenko advanced to the semis over No. 13 Kristina Mladenovic and No. 11 Caroline Wozniacki, respectively.

Given the weather delays, it took Bacsinszky nearly six hours, per Ben Rothenberg of New York Times, to reach her second French Open semifinal, beating Mladenovic 6-4, 6-4. And Ostapenko beat Wozniacki for the third time this year, earning a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

The tournament shared Ostapenko's winning point: 

Bacsinszky's 25 winners on the day, per RolandGarros.com, were the difference against Mladenovic. Ostapenko also dominated the winners department against Wozniacki, 38-6, and controlled the game at the net, winning 15 of 16 points in that regard, while overcoming 50 unforced errors.

Bacsinszky and Ostapenko will now face off in the semifinals. No. 5 Elina Svitolina will play No. 3 Simona Halep and No. 2 Karolina Pliskova will take on No. 28 Caroline Garcia in the other women's quarterfinals on the other side of the bracket Wednesday.

While the women's draw has featured a number of upsets and surprising contenders, the men's draw has largely held to form, with seven of the top eight seeds still in the running. The potential for a Nadal vs. Djokovic semifinal—with the winner of that matchup possibly to face Murray in the final—is tantalizing for tennis fans.

Picking a favorite in this field is difficult.

Djokovic is the defending champion but has had a disappointing 2017 season and has been tested in his last two matchups at Roland Garros. Nadal is the greatest French Open player of all time but hasn't won the tournament since 2014. Murray is the top-ranked player in the world but has never won at Roland Garros. Wawrinka is a threat, as he won the French Open in 2015 and reached the Australian Open semifinals this year.

There is no shortage of intrigue heading into the quarterfinals. Once the rains clear, French Open fans should be in for a quartet of fascinating matchups.