Rain delays Australian Open start on side courts

Rain has delayed the start of play Friday on outdoor courts at the Australian Open.

Play began on time at the three covered stadiums, including a third-round match between 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine on the main Rod Laver Arena.

Over on Margaret Court Arena, seventh-seeded and 2014 US Open finalist Kei Nishikori was playing Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain. At Hisense Arena, David Goffin played Dominic Thiem.

Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were set to play night matches Friday. The top-seeded Djokovic was scheduled to play Andreas Seppi while six-time champion Williams took on Daria Kasatkina of Russia.