Queen's tennis tournament in chaos as BBC pulls broadcast minutes after start

Play got under way at Queen's but was soon called to a halt with the BBC forced to act

The first day of the Queen's tennis tournament has been ruined by severe weather delays as London was hit by heavy rain on Monday.

Play had been due to get under way at 12.45pm but was delayed until later in the afternoon. The three opening first round matches did eventually start a couple of hours later but were brought to a halt after just one game as rain returned.

Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng had only contested eight points against her first-round opponent, Jaqueline Cristian, before the umpire stepped in to call the players off.

Elsewhere Karolina Pliskova was 1-0 up against McCartney Kessler before being told to stop, while British wildcard Harriet Dart only managed to play one point.

Queen's have just announced that there will be no play until at least 5pm today due to the weather, with the news greeted by groans inside the Andy Murray Arena.

The BBC began their broadcast of Queen's only when play was certain to get underway. But they announced that until play could get going again, a re-run of Venus Williams against Serena Williams at Wimbledon would be shown instead before broadcasting switched to other programmes.

British star Katie Boulter is due to face eighth seed Leylah Fernandez at some point today, with Emma Raducanu due on court tomorrow.

Further rain is expected is west London over the next three days. Unlike Wimbledon, there are no covered courts at the event.

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