By Steve Keating
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Climate&nbsp;protesters&nbsp;halted the U.S.&nbsp;Open&nbsp;women's&nbsp;semi-final between American Coco Gauff and Czech Karolina Muchova for nearly an hour on Thursday.
With Gauff up a set and holding serve to&nbsp;open&nbsp;the second, a disturbance erupted in the upper bowl of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the sport's largest venue with a seating capacity of over 23,000.
Stacey Allaster, United States&nbsp;Tennis&nbsp;Association (USTA) Chief Executive Professional&nbsp;Tennis, told ESPN the disturbance involved three&nbsp;climate&nbsp;protesters.
The&nbsp;USTA later issued a statement confirming four were taken into NYPD custody.
"Three of the four&nbsp;protesters&nbsp;were escorted out of the stadium without further incident," said the&nbsp;USTA statement. "The fourth protester affixed their bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl.
"Due to the nature of this action, NYPD and medical personnel were needed in order to safely remove this individual from the stadium."
Photographs of the scene showed&nbsp;protesters&nbsp;wearing shirts with the slogan, 'End Fossil Fuels'.
As players looked into the stands, security flooded into the section around where&nbsp;protesters&nbsp;were shouting. Television pictures showed more than a dozen law enforcement officers in the section.
Players were escorted off the court by a&nbsp;USTA official and returned for a warm-up 45 minutes later before play resumed.
Several major sporting events have been targeted by&nbsp;climate&nbsp;groups this year. 'Just Stop Oil'&nbsp;protesters&nbsp;interrupted play at Wimbledon in July, releasing orange ticker-tape mixed with jigsaw puzzle pieces during matches.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in New York; Editing by Gerry Doyle, Peter Rutherford)

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Tennis-Climate protesters halt US Open semi-finals