Jacob Fearnley loses and Jack Draper wins as Madrid Open resumes after power-cut
Jacob Fearnley fell to defeat against Grigor Dimitrov after their Madrid Open third-round match resumed following Monday’s power-cut but Jack Draper progressed to the last 16.
Apr 29, 2025Tennis
Jacob Fearnley fell to defeat against Grigor Dimitrov after their Madrid Open third-round match resumed following Monday’s power-cut but Jack Draper progressed to the last 16.
Fearnley’s match was suspended at a crucial stage because of the outage, which affected much of Spain and Portugal and forced play to be cancelled for the rest of the day.
The Scot had just broken back in the second set after saving a match point, meaning he had to resume serving to stay in the contest at 6-4 5-4.
Both players looked understandably nervous, and Fearnley had to save a second match point at 5-6 before sending the contest to a tie-break, which went Dimitrov’s way, with the Bulgarian 15th seed securing a 6-4 7-6 (3) victory.
The defeat ended another positive week for Fearnley, who won four matches across qualifying and the main draw and is closing in on a place in the top 50.
The tournament announced on Tuesday morning they were still experiencing problems, with the opening of the gates to fans delayed, before the electricity did come back on.
A statement on the Madrid Open X feed read: “Power supply has been restored at the Caja Magica. To ensure the proper functioning of the entire facility, gates will open at 11:00am, and play will begin at 12:00pm, as originally scheduled.”
Power supply has been restored at the Caja Mágica. To ensure the proper functioning of the entire facility, gates will open at 11:00 AM, and play will begin at 12:00 PM, as originally scheduled.#MMOPEN
The issues meant Monday turned into one of the strangest days at a major tournament.
Women’s seventh seed Mirra Andreeva did manage to finish her match but the players had to call their own lines during the final game, while Coco Gauff revealed she had washed herself with baby wipes after her triumph over Belinda Bencic because of a lack of running water.
The American later opted to walk part of the way back to her hotel because of gridlock in the city, while players ate by candlelight in the on-site restaurant and doubles player Fernando Romboli had to be rescued after getting stuck in a lift.
Draper revealed he had mixed feelings about the delay after benefiting from the retirement of opponent Matteo Berrettini through injury.
🤣🤣 put this in the history books, in a all seriousness I hope everyone stays safe 🙏🏾 https://t.co/kCmcZU6yZK
The fifth seed recovered from an early break down to take the opening set 7-2 on a tie-break before Berrettini called it a day.
“It’s been difficult having to wait around so long,” Draper told Sky Sports. “I’ve been wanting to compete. I’ve been here for eight days now and I’ve only played one match.
“It was tough having another day off but it was quite nice to not have any socials, not have the phone on. I want to get away from all that anyway. I actually ended up reading a book for once.”
Spanish power distributor Red Electrica said more than 99 per cent of the country’s power had been restored by 6am on Tuesday, with the cause of the unprecedented outage still being investigated.
The delay meant a bumper schedule on Tuesday, which also included British number three Cameron Norrie, who has been struggling with illness, going down 2-6 6-4 6-4 against Canadian lucky loser Gabriel Diallo.
Men’s top seed Alexander Zverev suffered a surprise 7-5 6-3 fourth-round defeat to Francisco Cerundolo.
In the women’s draw, top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka beat Peyton Stearns 6-2 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals – in which Andreeva and Gauff will meet – and second seed Iga Swiatek saw off Diana Shnaider 6-0 6-7 (3) 6-4, setting up a clash with Australian Open champion Madison Keys, a 6-2 6-3 winner over Donna Vekic.