Madrid Open players took blackout in stride, enjoyed time away from cellphones
MADRID, April 30: Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka made into the last eight by defeating Peyton Stearns in straight sets, while on the men’s side, top-seeded Alexander Zverev was upset by 21st-ranked Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
Most parts of Madrid regained power overnight, but the Caja Magica was still without electricity early Tuesday, causing a delay in the opening of the gates for fans.
The power came back quickly, though, and organizers did not have to alter the day’s schedule of matches, although there was the possibility of the night session being delayed because of the high number of matches during the day.
ZVEREV OUSTED
Cerundolo defeated the second-ranked Zverev 7-5, 6-3 to continue his quick rise in the rankings.
Cerundolo, who also defeated Zverez last year in Madrid, broke serve once in each set and saved the only break opportunity he conceded at center court.
who also defeated Zverev last year in Madrid.
Zverev was coming off the title in Munich and will move on to defend his title in Rome.
BERRETTINI OUT WITH INJURY
In the men’s side, 31st-ranked Matteo Berrettini withdrew with an abdominal injury after losing the first set 7-6 (2) to sixth-ranked Jack Draper.
Sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur tied Carlos Alcaraz with a tour-leading 24th win this season by getting past Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 7-6 (3).
The seventh-ranked De Minaur will next face Lorenzo Musetti, who beat 2019 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 7-6 (3).
Americans Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe both won their matches.
The 11th-seeded Paul defeated Karen Khachanov 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, while the 16th-seeded Tiafoe beat Alexandre Muller 6-3, 6-3.
Paul was among the players having to play doubles on the same day as their singles matches.
Another was 19-year-old Jakub Mensik, the Miami winner who defeated Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-2 before having to play his doubles match on the same court a bit later.
The 27-year-old Bublik joked in a conversation with the match’s referee during a changeover.
“Remember when tennis was easy? Like five years ago it was super easy to play tennis,” the four-time winner on tour said. “A bunch of random people in the top 50, barely moving. Now this guy is not even top 5, not even top 10. What is that?”
Ninth-seed Daniil Medvedev matched his career-best result in Madrid by reaching the last eight with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over American Brandon Nakashima.
Fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz was another American eliminated, losing 7-5, 6-4 to Casper Ruud.
SWIATEK RECOVERS FROM 0-6 LOSS
Iga Swiatek recovered after losing the first six games of the match to defeat Madison Keys 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 and stay on track to defend her title at the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Swiatek was overpowered by Keys early in their quarterfinal but eventually found a way to rally past the fifth-ranked American on center court.
“It was one of the weirdest matches I played,” the second-ranked Swiatek said.
Swiatek will next face either Coco Gauff or Mirra Andreeva, who play later Wednesday.
PLAYER ENJOY TIME OFF
Many of the tennis players who endured the power outage that brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill and disrupted the Madrid Open tournament on Monday said they actually enjoyed some of their time off the grid.
“It was fine,” 10th-ranked Daniil Medvedev said. “I tried a couple of times in my life to use my phone less, but you can’t because you have to do a bank transfer, you have your coach calling you, your wife, your kids.”
“You are going to lose the connection. When I am not with my wife, she calls me so I can talk to the kids.”
“It’s not really possible, but once you don’t have the opportunity (to use your phone), I loved it,” Medvedev said.
“We had a great sandwich dinner, because there was no hot food … We were just enjoying and in the end, it was perfect timing. Around 10:30 p.m. the power was on, a small time on the phone, and then go to bed. It was perfect.”
World No. 6 Jack Draper said he was “actually enjoying” the time to “focus on what is important.”Women’s second-ranked Iga Swiatek said she “just chilled and used that time to not think about what I should do.” (PTI)