BEIJING (AP) — Daniil Medvedev was disqualified from his semifinal against Novak Djokovic at the China Open after he hit a ball into the stands that struck a spectator in the front row on Monday.
The spectator was helped out of the arena holding a hand over his left eye.
Djokovic was serving for the match at 7-5, 5-3 when Medvedev hit the ball into the stands in apparent frustration.
The incident was reminiscent of when Djokovic was kicked out of the
2020 U.S. Open for accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball.
Djokovic extended his perfect career record at the China Open to 33-0.
In Tuesday’s final, Djokovic will face ninth-ranked Alex de Minaur, who advanced when Hubert Hurkacz retired due to an apparent injury midway through the second set of their semifinal.
De Minaur led 6-4, 3-2 when Hurkacz — who was barely able to run for balls in the second set — stopped playing.
The nature of Hurkacz’s injury was not immediately clear.
In the third round of the women’s tournament, which ends Sunday, six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek rallied past Donna Vekic 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2 and will next meet Iva Jovic, who beat Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 7-5.
Elina Svitolina beat Maria Sakkari 6-4, 7-5.
Later, Coco Gauff was playing 16-year-old Chinese wild card Sun Xinran, who recently won the U.S. Open junior title.
U.S. Open champion Elena Rybakina withdrew from the upcoming Wuhan Open due to a foot injury.
On Saturday, Rybakina lost her first match with the No. 1 ranking when she was ousted in Beijing by No. 118 Alina Charaeva of Armenia in the second round.
“I’ll take some time to rest and recover,” Rybakina was quoted as saying by Wuhan Open organizers.
Charaeva extended her breakout run by beating Sonay Kartal 6-4, 6-1 to reach the last 16.
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