Stormy weather disrupts Wimbledon women's quarter-finals

Stormy weather disrupted the start of the women's quarter-finals at Wimbledon on Tuesday as heavy rain and thunder lashed the All England Club. Dark clouds hung over south-west London before the scheduled 1200GMT start of play and the downpour arrived just before German wildcard Sabine Lisicki and French ninth seed Marion Bartoli were due on Centre Court. The Centre Court's retractable roof had been opened after starting the day completely closed, so ground-staff rushed to cover the grass while the £80 million roof was resealed. With the roof finally closed and the climate-controlled conditions ready for play, Lisicki and Bartoli started their match at 1225GMT. Former champion Maria Sharapova's clash with Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova was next up on Centre Court. However, with rumbles of thunder all around Wimbledon, there was no play before 1300GMT on Court One -- which is due to stage two women's quarter-finals -- and the rest of the outside courts, where men's and women's doubles and junior singles' matches are scheduled. Spectators were forced to run for cover under the stands as the stormy weather continued for around an hour before finally easing. The Court One programme was due to begin with Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova's match against 32nd-seeded Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, with unseeded Austrian Tamira Paszek second on against fourth seed Victoria Azarenka.