Massive blockout halts Madrid Open
Play has been cancelled at the Madrid Open for the rest of the day following a massive power cut in Spain and neighbouring Portugal, tournament organisers announced yesterday.
A power cut affecting 'the whole of the Iberian peninsula and part of France', according to Portuguese electricity network operator REN, halted matches shortly after 10.30am GMT, before Madrid Open organisers called off the rest of the day's action four hours later.
'For reasons beyond the control of the organisation and in order to guarantee general safety, the nationwide power-cut experienced in Spain yesterday 28 April has forced the cancellation of both the day and night sessions at the Madrid Open,' the tournament announced on social media.
Only three matches were completed yesterday before the outage.
Women's world number four Coco Gauff beat Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 in the last 16 and teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva also progressed to the quarter-finals, beating Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-1, 6-4.
Matteo Arnaldi, who knocked out Novak Djokovic on Saturday, reached the round of 16 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Damir Dzumhur.
Elsewhere, the match between Grigor Dimitrov and Jacob Fearnley was suspended when the Bulgarian 15th seed was leading 6-4, 5-4 with his opponent serving to stay in the match.
Among the matches initially scheduled for yesterday and now postponed until today are the last 16 matches of women's world numbers one and two, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, who were due to take on Peyton Stearns and Diana Shnaider, respectively.
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