Italian Open tennis match suspended for 18 minutes due to football fans in wild scenes
Rafael Jodar's Italian Open quarter-final against Luciano Darderi suffered a lengthy suspension in unprecedented scenes.
Wild scenes at the Italian Open saw a quarter-final match suspended for nearly 20 minutes because of the nearby Coppa Italia final. Inter Milan defeated Lazio 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome thanks to an Adam Murisic own goal and Lautaro Martinez's strike. Inter had already been crowned Serie A champions earlier this month with three games to go. And their cup triumph to complete a domestic double came just a few hundred metres away from Foro Italico, where the city's tennis tournament is played.
Celebrations of Inter's win led to the Campo Centrale centre court being engulfed in smoke from the fireworks let off inside the football stadium. Before long, the entire complex on the slopes of Monte Mario was shrouded in fog. Jodar led 6-5, 15-0 in the first set before the smoke from the fireworks became so thick that the electronic line-calling system malfunctioned at the Masters 1000 event.
Visibility was heavily hampered and Darderi refused to continue playing with the white lines on the red clay barely visible. It was an unprecedented situation with no tennis matches in recent history being halted by a 'smoke delay'.
Eventually, Jodar and Darderi returned to the court to begin hitting the ball to test the line-calling system as the smoke cleared.
The match was suspended for 18 minutes before the two players resumed with Darderi serving to stay in the set. The Italian, much to the delight of the remaining spectators, ultimately took the first set 7-6 after a tiebreak which concluded at quarter past midnight local time.
At 1.10am local time, Darderi had two match points saved by Jodar in an exhausting second set and was then broken, allowing Jodar to serve out the set 7-5 and draw level. The Italian had earlier led 3-0, 40-15 in the same set.
Fans poured out of the stadium upon learning the match was unlikely to be decided before 2am.
But Darderi finally secured victory by completing a third-set bagel to wrap it up at 2.02am. The match lasted three hours and eight minutes - not including the smoke delay - as Darderi won 7-6, 5-7, 6-0.
Jodar came into the match knowing that reaching the quarter-finals means he will be seeded at the upcoming French Open. The 19-year-old stands to rise to a new career-high, and will jump to at least 29th in the world.
