Tennis players in the dark at Madrid Open as matches suspended due to major power outage

MADRID (AP) — Former U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff was preparing to shower in a dark locker room after play at the Madrid Open was suspended and then postponed Monday due to a major power outage in Spain and Portugal.

Then Gauff realized the water was off, too.

“So I just had to take baby wipes and wipe myself,” Gauff said, “and spray some perfume and call it a day.”

Gauff managed to beat Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 shortly before the outage, which apparently cut off the sound as she was giving a post-match interview on the court. Then the 2023 U.S. Open champion posted an Instagram story showing only an emergency light working in an otherwise dark locker room.

The power went out at 12:34 p.m. local time (1034 GMT), stopping two ATP singles matches and one doubles match that were underway. For the day, a total of 22 matches had to be canceled.

“The cut is preventing the use of electronic line calling systems and also left a spider cam dangling over the court inside Manolo Santana Stadium,” the ATP added.

Tournament organizers said they “had no choice but to suspend/cancel all sporting activity in order to guarantee the safety of the players, fans and personnel.” Spectators were told to leave the sports complex.

Power was restored at night through most parts of Madrid, and organizers said play will resume on Tuesday.

Second-ranked Alexander Zverev, a two-time Madrid Open champion, will face Francisco Cerundolo, while Alex de Minaur and Daniil Medvedev will also be in action.

On the women’s side, the remaining six fourth-matches were expected to be played on Tuesday, including top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka facing Peyton Stearns and second-ranked Iga Swiatek taking on Diana Shnaider.

When play was stopped, Grigor Dimitrov was leading Jacob Fearnley 6-4, 5-4 inside the main stadium. Also, Matteo Arnaldi was leading Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 3-2 but that match continued later — apparently with manual line calling — and Arnaldi won 6-3, 6-4.

The doubles was also completed and some players practiced despite the outage.

The blackout brought much of Spain and Portugal to a standstill, knocking out subway networks, phone lines, traffic lights and ATM machines.

Spanish power distributor Red Eléctrica declined to speculate on the cause of the blackout.

Meanwhile, Gauff also posted a photo of candles being distributed.

“It’s just crazy how much we depend on electricity,” Gauff said. “It’s really insane and puts it in perspective.”

Another fourth-round women’s match was also completed before the blackout: Mirra Andreeva beat Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-1, 6-4.

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Dampf reported from Rome.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis