Kontaveit faces local player Astra Sharma, ranked 111th internationally. The game was due to be the sixth contest on court eight Tuesday, and will now be the first game there on Wednesday – which means it starts around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, Estonian time.

Kontaveit, ranked 31st in the world, and Sharma, have never met before. Both players are aged 24, ERR's sports portal reports.

This year's grand slam contest in Melbourne is the fifth time the Estonian, from Tallinn, has appeared. Her career-best to date is the quarter finals, which she reached in 2018.

Sharma played all four grand slam tournaments last season for the first time, with her best effort coming before a home crowd this time last year, when she reached the second round.

Sharma reached the finals of a WTA event for the first time in spring last year in Colombia, losing to Amanda Anisimova (U.S.) according to ERR Sport.

Veteran player Kaia Kanepi, Estonia's other representative at the event, was knocked out on Monday in three sets, by Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic).

The game which caused the delay to Kontaveit's game was a men's singles encounter which lasted just under four hours and saw Aljaz Bedene (Slovenia) overcome James Duckworth (Australia) in five sets, two of which went to tie-breaks.

Download the ERR News app for Android and iOS now and never miss an update!