Spain power outage: British star forced off court at Madrid Open at crucial moment

Jacob Fearnley was forced off the court at a crucial stage of his match against Grigor Dimitrov at the Madrid Open by a power cut. Spain and Portugal – and the issue has impacted the tennis tournament.

Traffic lights, the metro and the airport have all been hit by the problem in Madrid, plunging the capital into chaos. Drivers have been urged not to use their cars, while the metro train system was evacuated due to safety concerns, with station entrances then taped off.

British No.2 Fearnley was playing Bulgarian veteran Dimitrov in a round-of-32 match on Court Manolo Santana, the main stadium inside the Caja Magic, when the problems hit. The scoreboard, electronic line calling system and spider camera all stopped working, forcing the umpire to suspend the match.

The interruption was unavoidable, with the spider cam stuck in the players’ eyelines, but came at a tricky moment for both players. Fearnley had saved a match point and was just about to serve to stay in the match at 5-4 down in the second set, having lost the first set 6-4.

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“The Madrid Open has been affected by the general power outage, we are working to restore normality as soon as possible,” organisers wrote on X. “We will keep you informed through our social media channels.”

Power company Red Electrica earlier confirmed the widespread outage, which could be affecting around 50 million people across the Iberian peninsula and parts of France. But it said it was beginning to recover power in the north and south of the country, adding that: "We continue working to restore power.”

There were scenes elsewhere at Madrid Open of fans being plunged into darkness, while Coco Gauff’s speech after winning on Court Arantxa Sanchez was disrupted. Gauff had been addressing the crowd when the on-court microphone and courtside billboards switched off.

Spectators were forced to switch on the torches on their mobile phones in order to leave their seats in pitch darkness. Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of people being led out of the closed-roof stadium.

Fearnley is the first of three Brits who were supposed to be in action in the Spanish capital on Monday. Cameron Norrie is scheduled to face Canada's Gabriel Diallo before British No.1 Jack Draper takes on Matteo Berrettini of Italy.

Gauff managed to get her match completed before the power cut. The American defeated Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarter-final, while Mirra Andreeva had earlier completed a 6-1, 6-4 win over Yuliia Starodubtseva.