Tennis players in the dark as matches at Madrid Open suspended due to major power outage

MADRID — Former U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff was preparing to shower in a dark locker room after play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended and then postponed Monday due to a major power outage in Spain and Portugal.

Then Gauff realized that the water was off, too.

''So I just had to take baby wipes and wipe myself,'' Gauff said, ''and spray some perfume and call it a day.''

Gauff managed to beat Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 shortly before the outage, which apparently cut off the sound as she was giving a post-match interview on the court. Then the 2023 U.S. Open champion posted an Instagram story showing only an emergency light working in an otherwise dark locker room.

The ATP Tour said that two singles matches and one doubles match were underway when power went out at 12:34 p.m. local time (1034 GMT).

''The cut is preventing the use of electronic line calling systems and also left a spider cam dangling over the court inside Manolo Santana Stadium,'' the ATP added.

Tournament organizers said they "had no choice but to suspend/cancel all sporting activity in order to guarantee the safety of the players, fans and personnel." They recommended all spectators leave the sports complex.

Grigor Dimitrov was leading Jacob Fearnley 6-4, 5-4 inside the main stadium when play was stopped. Also, Matteo Arnaldi was leading Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 3-2 when play was suspended. That match later continued — apparently with manual line calling — and Arnaldi won 6-3, 6-4.

The doubles match was also completed and some players were practicing despite the outage. A a few people remained in the stands to watch.

The blackout brought much of Spain and Portugal to a standstill, knocking out subway networks, phone lines, traffic lights and ATM machines.

Spanish power distributor Red Eléctrica said restoring power to large parts of the country after the outage could take up to 10 hours.

The company declined to speculate on the causes of the blackout.

Gauff also posted a photo of candles being distributed.

''I don't think we're even going to be able to go back to the hotel because the traffic lights are out,'' Gauff said. ''It's just crazy how much we depend on electricity. It's really insane and puts it in perspective.''

Another fourth-round women's match was also completed before the blackout: Mirra Andreeva beat Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-1, 6-4.

Second-ranked Iga Swiatek ''sat in the darkened players' lounge, talking with members of her team,'' ahead of her scheduled match against Diana Shnaider, the WTA Tour said.

Swiatek and Shnaider had been scheduled to play in the main stadium after the Dimitrov-Fearnley match.

Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka had been scheduled to play Peyton Stearns later.

___

Dampf reported from Rome.

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis