Jack Draper of Britain advanced to the fourth round of the Madrid Open after his opponent, Matteo Berrettini, retired due to injury. This happened on a day when fellow British players Cam Norrie and Jacob Fearnley were eliminated from the tournament.
Draper secured the first set against the Italian, winning the tiebreak 7-6 (7-2). Berrettini subsequently retired shortly after, citing an abdominal injury, which handed the British No. 1 the victory.
Draper commented on Berrettini`s injury: “He said his abs were pulling. I`ve had ab injuries in the past, I believe he might have done it in his last match. Credit to him for coming out here and putting on a good first set.”
He added, “I saw his energy was a bit low. In general, Matteo is a very positive player. So it`s always tough to see a friend having an injury. I know it`s plagued him a lot. I know how it feels. I hope he`s able to come back for Rome. I wish him all the best. He`s a great guy.”
In earlier action, Cameron Norrie faced a disappointing third-round exit. He lost to Canadian lucky loser Gabriel Diallo, despite winning the first set 6-2. Diallo fought back to take the next two sets 6-4, eliminating Norrie.
Jacob Fearnley also saw his run end in the third round, defeated by Grigor Dimitrov. Fearnley was one of the players whose match on Monday was interrupted by a widespread power outage.
Before the interruption on Monday, the Scot had broken Dimitrov`s serve to stay in the match. Play resumed with Fearnley trailing 6-4, 5-4.
The power cut, which impacted large areas of Spain and Portugal, caused matches to be suspended shortly after 12:30 pm local time.
When play resumed on Tuesday, Fearnley held serve to level the second set at 5-5. The British player showed resilience, fending off a match point in his subsequent service game to force a tiebreak. However, despite securing a couple of mini-breaks, Dimitrov ultimately proved too strong, winning the match 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
On Tuesday morning, the tournament organizers announced they were still facing issues due to the outage, leading to a delay in opening the gates for fans.
The problem was later resolved. A statement posted on the official Madrid Open X (formerly Twitter) feed confirmed: “Power supply has been restored at the Caja Magica. To ensure the proper functioning of the entire facility, gates will open at 11 am, and play will begin at 12 pm, as originally scheduled.”
The outage affected various systems, including the electronic line calling (used instead of line judges), which became inoperable. The spider camera also remained stuck in a low position above the court.
According to Spanish power distributor Red Electrica, over 99 percent of the country`s power supply was restored by 6 am on Tuesday. The cause of the widespread outage is still under investigation.
Zverev Knocked Out of Tournament
In another significant upset, top seed Alexander Zverev was eliminated in the third round by Argentina`s Francisco Cerundolo. This victory extended Cerundolo`s perfect record against the German to 3-0.
Cerundolo defeated Zverev in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, securing his spot in the quarter-finals at the Caja Magica.
Zverev`s early exit leaves the men`s singles draw considerably more open. Draper is now the highest-ranked player still competing in the tournament.
Zverev had been seen as a strong contender for his third Madrid title, especially given the absence of World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz from this year`s event.
