Great Britain's Andy Murray was on the cusp of being eliminated from the Geneva Open before a freak weather storm forced the suspension of his meeting with Yannick Hanfmann.
The former British and world number one was 5-7 1-4 down against his German foe before a bizarre wave of white pollen engulfed the court, and the heavens opened not long after.
Following a few minutes of confusion, the chair umpire suspended play, seemingly just delaying Murray's early elimination on his ATP Tour comeback appearance.
The 37-year-old made his return from an ankle injury in a Challenger event in Bordeaux last week, only winning his first-round match thanks to his opponent retiring injured and losing in straight sets in his second-round tie.
Murray had not competed at the top level since hurting himself at the Miami Open back in March and initially held out well against Hanfmann, saving two break points to hold for 5-4.
However, the German then reeled off a quartet of winners in the 11th game to break Murray to love and was the dominant force against the waning Briton in the second set, earning a double break for a 4-1 lead.
Andy Murray's match against Yannick Hanfmann has been SUSPENDED due to the weather 🌧😲 pic.twitter.com/v79oZQEMH1
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) May 20, 2024
Dan Evans suffers early exit in Lyon
Murray posted back-to-back double faults to gift Hanfmann his chance to break in the fifth game, but as a mixture of pollen and rain descended onto the court, the German's ostensibly inevitable victory was halted.
As Murray and Jack Draper - whose match with Tomas Machac was pushed back - prepare to resume action tomorrow, Dan Evans's miserable losing run continued at the Lyon Open.
Like Murray, the 33-year-old also dropped down to Challenger level in Bordeaux - reaching the quarter-finals - but he was condemned to his sixth straight ATP Tour loss against Arthur Rinderknech.
Evans fought back to take the second set, but the Frenchman ultimately prevailed in a nervy final-set tie-breaker to triumph 6-3 4-6 7-6[8] in front of the home crowd, saving one match point en route to the last 16.
Elsewhere, there were mixed fortunes for GB in the opening round of French Open qualifiers, as Billy Harris defeated American 17th seed Emilio Nava 6-3 4-6 6-1 to progress to round two.
However, Jan Choinski lost 4-6 4-6 to another USA representative in Denis Kudla, while Lily Miyazaki was thrashed 1-6 1-6 by China's Wei Sijia.
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