Washed Out: Rain cancels de Minaur v. Bautista Agut championship match

The Region of Valencia Tennis Challenge attempted to overcome challenging rain and hail conditions on Sunday. The adverse weather placed Alex de Minaur and Roberto Bautista Agut under a two-hour weather delay in Alicante, Spain, that would result in play being canceled altogether.

What appeared to be a sun shower soon escalated into a stormy whirlwind that would prevent the two Top 30 players from ending the three-day event on a strong note.

The 21-year-old Aussie got his footing on the red clay immediately as he zoomed off to 1-0 lead. From there, the rain would prevail and would wash out the rest of Sunday's action. Bautista Agut and de Minaur were both undefeated coming into the final match.

"Certainly impressive to have an event like this," commentator Leif Shiras said. "Have to congratulate Pablo Andujar and his team for putting this on, and it seemed to be going so well until the weather threw in the towels on day three."

The exhibition also featured world No. 25 Pablo Carreno Busta and Andujar, and similar to other exhibition events, such as the UTR Pro Match Series in Florida, the tournament had no live spectators and followed strict social distancing guidelines.

Although fans missed the terre battue at Roland Garros, the round-robin exhibition provided high-quality tennis at the first sporting event held in Spain since the coronavirus shutdown in March. The event also provided some more insight into what the future of the sport could have in store.

On June 23, more exhibition events will emerge. Andy Murray, Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund will compete in the Schroders Battle of the Brits, while top WTA stars such as Madison Keys and Sofia Kenin are set to play the Credit One Bank Invitational in Charleston, S.C.