Rain takes over Newport’s grass courts, halting play with 3 matches in progress.

Rain halts play for day at Hall of Fame

NEWPORT, R.I. — Heavy rain halted the only three matches that began at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Tuesday, ending play before two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro got onto the grass court.

The start of action was delayed about 2½ hours before three matches began.

After a second delay of approximately 90 minutes, play resumed for just over 20 minutes before thunderstorms halted play for the day.

Seventh-seeded Kevin Kim lost the first set against Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, and play was stopped during the first game of the second set.

Santoro, the No. 2 seed, watched the action from the grandstands before retreating to the player’s lounge, where the Michael Jackson memorial service was on a TV set.

Philipp Petzschner of Germany led Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, 6-4, 3-4; and Samuel Groth of Australia was ahead of Brazil’s Ricardo Mello, 7-5, 0-3.

A moment of silence was held before the first match for 24-year old French player Mathieu Montcourt, who was found dead in his Paris apartment on Tuesday.

“It was terrible,” Grosjean said. “He was a wonderful kid. Twenty-four years old, in great shape. Someone called me this morning and said that he passed away last night. I talked to him four, five days ago.”

Top seeded Mardy Fish withdrew Monday to take Andy Roddick’s place on the U.S. Davis Cup team.

Fish was selected for the team a day after Roddick lost an epic Wimbledon final to Roger Federer. Roddick withdrew from the Davis Cup, citing a right hip flexor injury.