Chloé Paquet's São Paulo debut delayed again by rain

Chloé Paquet’s wait to enter the São Paulo main draw has continued, with rain forcing another postponement of her opening match. The Frenchwoman was due to face Argentina’s Jasmin Ortenzi on Monday, but the fixture was first moved to Tuesday and then pushed back again. It is now scheduled for Wednesday, provided conditions allow play to resume.

Paquet reached the tournament’s final draw through qualifying and has yet to play a match there. The 32-year-old defeated Argentina’s Capurro Taborda 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 on Saturday before beating Lithuania’s Mikulskyte 6-3, 6-4 the next day. Those two victories have left her one win away from a third success in São Paulo, but she remains unable to begin her campaign against an opponent ranked 160th in the world.

The disruption has affected the wider schedule in the Brazilian city. Several matches did start on Tuesday, including meetings involving Brace and Sierra, You and Charaeva, and Lys against home player Gabriela Ce, but none of those contests reached its conclusion. Paquet’s match was not able to begin at all.

Paquet is currently ranked 319th, having previously reached a career high of 96th. A victory over Ortenzi would be her first since July, when she won in Hamburg. It would also allow her to build on a qualifying run that has already delivered two wins, after she missed the São Paulo tournament last season.