Monday's play suspended at Madrid Open after power cut

Madrid, April 28 (IANS) Monday's play at the Mutua Madrid Open has been suspended due to a significant power cut that is affecting parts of Spain and Portugal.

Two singles matches and one doubles match at the ATP Masters 1000 event were underway when power was lost at 12:34 p.m. local time (4:05 PM IST). The cut is preventing the use of electronic line calling systems and also left a spider cam dangling over the court inside Monolo Santana Stadium, where Grigor Dimitrov led Jacob Fearnley 6-4, 5-4 when play was stopped.

The No. 16 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Dimitrov held a match point on return at 5-3, 30/40 in the second set. Yet Fearnley then held serve and promptly reclaimed the break in the next game to keep alive his hopes of a comeback win in the pair's maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. Meanwhile Matteo Arnaldi was building confidently on his upset of Novak Djokovic on Court 4, where he was serving at 6-3, 3-2 against Damir Dzumhur before the power cut.

When play resumes in Madrid, Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Lorenzo Musetti and Jack Draper vs. Matteo Berrettini are among the big-hitting showdowns on the Monday evening schedule in the Spanish capital.

Sunday's highlight at the Madrid Open saw Alexander Zverev survive a major test from Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina where he earned a thrilling 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(0) third-round win.

Zverev is a two-time champion in Madrid and is now on a seven-match winning streak, having won on home soil in Munich last week. The No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings fired 11 aces against Davidovich Fokina and committed 17 fewer unforced errors (28-45) to set a fourth-round clash against Argentine, Francisco Cerundolo who defeated Francisco Comesana in the Round of 32.

--IANS

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