Play is expected to continue at the Madrid Open today after most of Monday’s matches were cancelled as widespread power outages hit the Iberian Peninsula.
Spain declared a state of emergency on Monday evening as large swathes of the country were left without electricity and phone signal, owing to a ‘strong oscillation’ in the European grid. The outages also knocked out Metro systems and traffic lights, causing widespread panic across Spain and Portugal.
For the Madrid Open, that meant no lights, a failure in the automated line judge, and the loss of scoreboards.
While around half of the nation’s power is reported to have been restored, play remains delayed at the Madrid Open. As power has now been restored at the Caja Magica, gates will open to fans at 11am CET (10am BST), with play starting at noon CET (11pm BST).
There will be a packed schedule at the tournament today, as 22 matches scheduled for Monday afternoon were cancelled and will be played alongside those already slated for Tuesday. Three games had been underway when the outage first hit at 12:34pm, and will be resumed when the Caja Magica reopens.
Among those unable to complete their Monday matches was Scotland’s Jacob Fearnley, who was serving to survive in the tournament against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov. The British No3 had just saved a match point and was trailing 6-4 5-4 when play had to be halted.
The umpire had attempted to restart play, but postponed the match as a spider camera became stuck, hanging low over the court and in players’ eyelines.
That match will be among the first resumed when the Caja Magica resumes operation, currently slated for an 11am BST start. Stefano Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, and Taylor Fritz will all follow, though their start times are subject to the timings of other matches.
Daniil Medvedev’s match versus Brandon Nakashima is set for a start time ‘not before 6pm BST’, while British No1 Jack Draper’s clash with Matteo Berrettini will be the third played in Stadium 3.
British No2 Cameron Norrie will face unseeded Canadian Gabriel Diallo in the second match of the day on Court Four.
In the women’s bracket, both world No1 Aryna Sabalenka and No2 Iga Swiatek saw their Monday afternoon ties postponed, though Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva managed to secure wins before play was suspended.
