Madrid Open Halted by Massive Power Outage Across Iberia

(The Post News)– Play at the Madrid Open came to an unexpected standstill on Monday after a major power cut swept across Spain, Portugal, and even parts of France. Tournament organisers confirmed that the rest of the day’s actions would be canceled, citing safety concerns.

The power outage, which the Portuguese electricity network REN described as affecting “the whole of the Iberian peninsula and part of France”, first hit shortly after 10:30am GMT. Matches were paused almost immediately, and after several hours of uncertainty, organisers officially called off both the day and night sessions.

In a post shared on social media, the Madrid Open explained that the nationwide power failure on Monday, 28 April, forced them to cancel all scheduled matches, stressing that the decision was made to prioritise everyone’s safety.

Before the disruption, only three matches had been completed. World No. 4 Coco Gauff advanced to the quarterfinals with a confident 6-4, 6-2 win over Belinda Bencic. Teenage rising star Mirra Andreeva also secured her spot in the next round, beating Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-1, 6-4. On the men’s side, Matteo Arnaldi, fresh off his headline-grabbing upset over Novak Djokovic, continued his momentum with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Damir Dzumhur. Meanwhile, Grigor Dimitrov was on the brink of victory against Jacob Fearnley — leading 6-4, 5-4 — when their match was suspended.

Several high-profile clashes, including women’s world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka against Peyton Stearns and No. 2 Iga Swiatek facing Diana Shnaider, were also on Monday’s lineup and have now been pushed to Tuesday. Organisers will be hoping for a smooth restart as they work to get the tournament back on track.