Power outage in Spain suspends play at Madrid Open
Play was suspended at the Madrid Open the afternoon of Monday, due to a power outage across Spain.

Power outage in Spain suspends play at Madrid Open (AP)
MADRID: Play was suspended at the Madrid Open the afternoon of Monday, due to a power outage across Spain.
The loss of power meant that the electronic line calling (ELC) system did not work, with scoreboards down across the complex. On the main court, the Manolo Santana Stadium, a television Spidercam got stuck perilously close to court level and operators could not hoist it out of the way.
The tournament did not immediately respond when contacted by the media to offer further information or clarify its protocols for resuming play. It later issued a statement on X:
“The #MMOPEN has been affected by the general power outage, we are working to restore normality as soon as possible. We will keep you informed through our social media channels,” it said.
Red Electrica de Espana, the Transmission System Operator (TSO) in Spain, issued a statement on the outage, also on X:
“Protocols have been activated to restore the electricity supply in collaboration with companies in the sector, after the outage that occurred in the Iberian peninsular’s system,” it said.
“The causes are being analyzed and every resource is being dedicated to solving the issue. We will continue to report on the situation.”
The delay, which began at soon after 12.30 p.m local time, came at an inopportune time for Britain’s Jacob Fearnley. He had just saved a match point and broken Grigor Dimitrov to keep their match alive, but the players were taken off with the Brit about to serve down 5-4 in the second set.
The match between Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi and Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina was also suspended, with Arnaldi leading 6-3, 3-2. They resumed with the outage ongoing, Arnaldi winning 6-3, 6-4.
Elsewhere at the Caja Magica, Mirra Andreeva beat Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-1, 6-4 just before the outage. After Coco Gauff defeated Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2, Gauff’s post-match interview ended with the microphone she was speaking into cutting out.
The disruption left spectators using torches on their phones to navigate darkness indoors. Food outlets used cash to complete transactions.