Top seed Amelie Mauresmo was enduring a difficult time against German qualifier Kristina Barrois when rain ruled out any further play at the US Open on Tuesday.

Mauresmo, aiming for her third Grand Slam title of the year, won the first set against Barrois 6-1 but trailed 5-2 in the second when play was halted for good.

No matches were completed on Tuesday due to the rain interruptions that wreaked havoc with the first-round schedule.

The delays gave a hectic look to Wednesday's order of play with top seeds Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both in action in the men's while Mauresmo and third seed Maria Sharapova are also scheduled for first-round action.

Tuesday's matches started three-and-a-half hours late because of the wet weather and then only about an hour of play was possible because of two rain delays.

Two-times Grand Slam winner Mary Pierce was scheduled to face Russian Elena Vesnina in her first-round match, but was forced to play the waiting game.

"Well, there's not much you can do, and there's not a lot of places you can go," said Pierce, who waited at least seven hours before her match was cancelled.

"When it's your time to play, sometimes you have to be ready in 20 minutes when you've been waiting for a few hours," said the Frenchwoman. "Sometimes it's tough to get going after that.

Lleyton Hewitt, the 2001 champion, was level with Spain's Albert Montanes 5-5 in the opening set on Louis Armstrong Stadium before a misty rain began to fall.

The Australian skidded badly on the baseline and discussed the situation with the chair umpire before play was suspended.

On the grandstand, Frenchman Gael Monfils, seeded 27, took the first set from American Michael Russell 6-2 before they were forced to take cover.