Darkness descends on Madrid Open after major power outage

Mirra Andreeva has spent the past two years of her life outperforming most teenagers that have ever picked up a tennis racket in the 21st century, yet on a surreal day inside Caja Mágica, she briefly returned to her roots.

- Tumaini Carayol

Mirra Andreeva has spent the past two years of her life outperforming most teenagers that have ever picked up a tennis racket in the 21st century, yet on a surreal day inside Caja Mágica, she briefly returned to her roots. During the final change of ends of her fourth-round match against the Ukrainian Yulia Starodubtseva, as she served for a comfortable victory, she learned of the power outage that had ravaged Spain, Portugal and many nearby countries, ultimately forcing play to be postponed in Madrid.

As matches across the tournament grounds had already come to a halt, the two players were told that they could play out the subsequent game, but the live electronic line-calling system was no longer functioning and there were no line umpires to call upon. They would have to play as if they were back on the junior circuit, calling their own lines with only the umpire there to intervene. Andreeva began to feel the pressure.

"It was 15-40 on my serve and I was like: 'Oh, Mirra. Just please, please do everything in your power to just take this game and finish this match,' she said, laughing. "I knew that if it would go to 5-5, probably we would have to wait. Probably I would not be here yet and I would just be waiting and we would just see what we would do."