Play at the Mutua Madrid Open was unexpectedly halted on Monday due to a significant power outage. The blackout occurred just after noon on a day when all 16 women remaining in the tournament were scheduled to compete in their fourth-round matches.
Media reports indicated the power failure was widespread, potentially affecting millions of people across Spain and other parts of Europe. Initial information suggested the cause was linked to issues within the European electric grid.
Before the power went out, two of the eight scheduled women`s fourth-round matches were successfully completed. Fourth seed Coco Gauff defeated Belinda Bencic with a score of 6-4, 6-2, and seventh seed Mirra Andreeva secured a 6-1, 6-4 victory over qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva.
The outage affected other players and ongoing matches. World No. 2 Iga Swiatek, for instance, was seen waiting in the darkened players` lounge, discussing the situation with her team while awaiting the potential resumption of play.
Following the disruption, all remaining matches scheduled for Monday were officially cancelled and have been rescheduled to take place on Tuesday.
