Daniil Medvedev was disqualified from his China Open semi-final clash with Novak Djokovic after hitting a rebounding ball into the crowd, striking a spectator in the eye.
World No 5 Medvedev was trailing 7-5, 5-3 on Monday and had lost a point when he hit the ball coming off the wall. The spectator, who was sitting in the first row, clutched his left eye and appeared to be in pain as he walked out of the gallery, assisted by stadium staff.
“Terribly sorry to the spectator, first of all,” he told reporters afterwards, adding it was “100% an accident” and that he wished to apologise to the fan in person.
“I was shocked, to be honest … I hope that person is not badly injured,” added the sixth seed Djokovic, who was disqualified from the US Open in 2020 under similar circumstances. “On the other hand, I also feel sorry for Daniil because I know exactly how it feels to be disqualified in a big match … I’m sure that Daniil didn’t want to do this intentionally.”
Both semi-finals ended prematurely in Beijing as Hubert Hurkacz retired with an adductor injury earlier on Monday. Australia’s Alex de Minaur was leading the first semi 6-4, 3-2 when his Polish opponent, who had struggled with movement throughout the match, retired.
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Elsewhere, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz overcame early wobbles on his serve to outclass fellow Spaniard Jaume Munar 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 and reach the Japan Open final, taking a step towards his first singles title after his comeback from a wrist injury. He will face Jiri Lehecka in Tuesday’s final.
The 23-year-old, who moved through the gears during Team Europe’s triumphant Laver Cup campaign last month, looked comfortable against qualifier Munar in Tokyo at 5-4 before gifting him the opening set with two shaky service games.
“I don’t know what happened in the first set,” said top seed Alcaraz, who dropped 16 consecutive points at the end of it. “I started the match well, got a break and was serving for the set, but I don’t know what happened. It seems like I’m struggling every first set. But the way that I come back every time, I think I’m just really happy about it. Jaume’s a pretty tough player and these conditions suit him pretty well. I just tried to stay there as much as I could.”
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