Andy Murray faces a hectic schedule as he bids to win the Queen’s Club ATP title for a fourth time after rain forced his semi-final clash with Viktor Troicki to be postponed until Sunday.

The rain began to fall with the scores level at 3-3 in the first set and, with no sign of the forecast improving after a delay of nearly two hours, tournament officials decided to call off play at the Wimbledon warm-up event.

World number three Murray will resume against Serbia’s Troicki on Sunday morning, with the final against South Africa’s Kevin Anderson scheduled for the afternoon.

Before the rain on Saturday unseeded Anderson had a 6-3 6-7 (608) 6-3 victory over French seventh seed Gilles Simon.

The world number 17 battered Simon into submission with 34 aces, taking his tally for the tournament to 96.

Anderson’s ace barrage comes after he honed his grass-court game in the unusual surroundings of the home of gold legend Jack Nicklaus in Florida.

Although Anderson is South African, he is based in Delray Beach, Florida and when one of his coaches heard Nicklaus had three grass courts he managed to persuade the 18-time major winner to let the 29-year-old have several practice sessions there.

“I was actually very lucky. I was able to get up to Jack Nicklaus’ house. He’s got three courts up in Jupiter. It’s only 30 minutes away from me,” Anderson said.

“That was pretty special. He was out there watching the practises in the beginning, so I was pretty lucky with that.”

Given the rare opportunity to spend some time with a legend, Anderson admitted he tried to pick the brains of the man who amassed 73 PGA Tour titles in his glittering career.

“I was able to chat with him a little bit. I mean, we were in the middle of the practice. I think he didn’t want to interrupt too much.

“But I think there are just so many similarities, especially from the mental side of things.”

Anderson would have loved to have a hit with Nicklaus on the tennis court, but his 75-year-old host was just happy to watch, which, given the South African’s huge serve, was probably a wise move.