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Even Rafael Nadal felt compelled to applaud when his second-round opponent at the U.S. Open hit a spectacular, full-sprint winner and was left doing the splits at the net.

The shot put Denis Istomin within two points of tying the match at a set apiece. He couldn't manage to close the deal, though -- a recurring theme for Nadal's game-but-outclassed foil in the No. 1-seeded Spaniard's 6-2, 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory Friday night.

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Losing the final weekend to unrelenting rain capped a 2010 women's Rogers Cup that was ill-fated from the start.

The semifinals -- one of them still hanging on an early Caroline Wozniacki lead -- were postponed from Saturday to Sunday and finally to Monday morning at 10 a.m. ET as rain fell on Uniprix Stadium and the players amused themselves with movies, computer games and table tennis in the players' lounge.

Wozniacki, the second seed, took a 2-0, 0-15 lead on 11th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova during a 10-minute dry spell Saturday evening, but not another point was able to be played.

Their semifinal is to be played simultaneously with the one that pits 10th-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus against eighth-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

The final is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET, although more rain is forecast for Monday morning, with clouds and isolated showers in the afternoon.

"They say 'Now it's ready' and you start warming up and then it starts raining again," Wozniacki said of the waiting. "The weather hasn't been nice to us.

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Serena Williams pulled out of the U.S. Open on Friday, saying she still is recovering from surgery to repair cuts on her right foot.

The top-ranked Williams has won three titles at Flushing Meadows, part of her 13 Grand Slam singles championships. Last year, she lost in the semifinals after a tirade at a line judge over a foot-fault call.

"It is with much frustration and deep sadness that I am having to pull out of the U.S. Open," Williams said in a statement released by her publicist.

Williams went to add: "My doctors have advised against my playing so that my foot can heal."

She called missing the tournament "one of the most devastating moments of my career."

The 28-year-old American was hurt while she was in Munich last month -- shortly after winning her fourth Wimbledon singles title on July 3 and before playing in an exhibition match against Kim Clijsters that drew a tennis-record crowd of 35,681 in Brussels on July 8.

Williams had surgery in Los Angeles on July 15. She had already pulled out of three hard-court tournaments she was scheduled to enter in preparation for the U.S. Open.

Williams has participated in the last 16 majors; the last one she missed was Wimbledon in 2006.

She won her first Grand Slam singles championship at the 1999 U.S. Open and also took home the trophy from New York in 2002 and 2008.

"We regret that Serena Williams is unable to play the U.S. Open and wish her a speedy recovery," tournament director Jim Curley said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. "She will be missed, but the tournament is about the competition and the players on the court."

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