Madrid, April 28
Monday's play at the Mutua Madrid Open has been suspended due to a significant power cut that is affecting parts of Spain and Portugal.
Two singles matches and one doubles match at the ATP Masters 1000 event were underway when power was lost at 12:34 p.m. local time (4:05 PM IST). The cut is preventing the use of electronic line calling systems and also left a spider cam dangling over the court inside Monolo Santana Stadium, where Grigor Dimitrov led Jacob Fearnley 6-4, 5-4 when play was stopped.
The No. 16 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Dimitrov held a match point on return at 5-3, 30/40 in the second set. Yet Fearnley then held serve and promptly reclaimed the break in the next game to keep alive his hopes of a comeback win in the pair's maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. Meanwhile Matteo Arnaldi was building confidently on his upset of Novak Djokovic on Court 4, where he was serving at 6-3, 3-2 against Damir Dzumhur before the power cut.
When play resumes in Madrid, Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Lorenzo Musetti and Jack Draper vs. Matteo Berrettini are among the big-hitting showdowns on the Monday evening schedule in the Spanish capital.
Sunday's highlight at the Madrid Open saw Alexander Zverev survive a major test from Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina where he earned a thrilling 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(0) third-round win.
Zverev is a two-time champion in Madrid and is now on a seven-match winning streak, having won on home soil in Munich last week. The No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings fired 11 aces against Davidovich Fokina and committed 17 fewer unforced errors (28-45) to set a fourth-round clash against Argentine, Francisco Cerundolo who defeated Francisco Comesana in the Round of 32.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Wow, that's crazy! The spider cam dangling must have been quite a sight. Hope they get the power back soon - Dimitrov was so close to finishing his match! ⚡🎾
I was watching the Arnaldi match and he was on fire! Such bad timing with the power cut. Really hope this doesn't break his momentum after that huge Djokovic upset.
While these things happen, the tournament organizers should really have backup generators for critical systems like line calling. It's a Masters 1000 event after all.
Zverev's win yesterday was epic! Can't wait for his next match. Hope the power situation gets resolved quickly so we don't miss tonight's Tsitsipas vs Musetti clash 🤞
Power cuts affecting multiple countries? That's wild. Stay safe everyone in Spain and Portugal! Tennis can wait when there are bigger issues at play.
The Fearnley-Dimitrov match was getting so intense! That break back right before the power cut... what timing! Now we have to wait to see how it continues 😫
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