New York: 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 US Open champion's victory on 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 US 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 US Tennis Association extended the tournament, delaying the men's final by 24 hours to Monday. The women's final was shifted from Saturday night to Sunday.
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 quarter-finals. On the other side of the men's draw, Djokovic and Roger Federer set up a semi-final showdown; it's the fifth consecutive year they'll meet at the US Open and a re-match from this year's French Open, where Federer handed Djokovic one of his two losses in 2011.
Given the delays, the 21st-seeded Roddick was eager to get going against the fifth-seeded Ferrer somewhere - anywhere, really.
They got in less than 10 minutes on Thursday before Roddick pointed out a damp spot in Louis Armstrong Stadium that made it too dangerous to play. He and Ferrer headed back to the locker room while workers spent an hour trying to dry the area. At 12:30 PM, the players returned with tournament referee Brian Earley to inspect the area.
Roddick pointed out that the spot still was wet and said to Earley, "Can you tell us why you brought us out here? ... How hard is it to not see water? ... What are we doing here?"
As he walked to the sideline, Roddick shook his head and said: "I'm baffled right now. Absolutely baffled." He shoved his racket in his bag and walked off the court, as some fans jeered.
Roddick, Ferrer and Earley then spoke in a hallway of 10,103-seat Armstrong stadium.
"Put us on 13. Thirteen's open. Let's go play. I don't care where we play," Roddick said.
Within minutes, the decision was made to switch courts, sending fans running and pushing their ways over to the metal bleachers at Court 13, and the match eventually resumed a little before 1 PM.
Not much more than two hours later, Roddick was high-fiving front-row spectators after wrapping up his 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
He hadn't played anywhere at Flushing Meadows other than the main court, Arthur Ashe Stadium, since 2002, a run of 39 consecutive US Open matches there.
On Thursday, he found himself on a court where he last played singles in 1999, losing a first-round junior match.
"I didn't think Court 13 was in my future. ... But extenuating circumstances, I guess," Roddick said.
"I thought the atmosphere was great. People packed in," added Roddick, who will play Nadal next. "I'd rather play a smaller court and have it packed, than playing a bigger court and have it a quarter full."
Elsewhere, No. 2-seeded Nadal beat 68th-ranked Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-2 in Ashe; No. 4 Murray eliminated 84th-ranked Donald Young of the United States 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in the Grandstand; and No. 28 Isner got past No. 12 Gilles Simon of France 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) on Court 17.
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