Janic Siner’s win over Holger Run at the Australian Open was delayed by a net problem

MELBOURNE, Australia — A screw holding the net in the Australian Open’s main stadium came loose during defending champion Janik Siner’s fourth-round win over Holger Run, delaying play for about 20 minutes early in the fourth set.

After finishing with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win to move back into the quarterfinals, Ciner admitted that the break was “very helpful” on a day when he struggled physically and temperatures in the upper 90s. Also sought medical advice. degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius).

“Of course, no one expected such a thing. Usually when the net breaks, it doesn’t stay down,” Siner said. “I was lucky today.”

The No. 1-ranked Sinner, the defending champion at Melbourne Park, sent a booming serve into the net, shaking it. It manages to inadvertently undo the piece of metal that hooks under the black netting that separates the players on a tennis court, then rotates to screw onto the blue surface.

Which left the net loose, so the game could not continue. At least a half dozen people went to look things over and try to reconnect the equipment. Eventually, a worker with a red tool box managed to fix it, earning cheers from thousands of spectators at Rod Laver Arena.

“It’s probably something that happens one in 500 matches. It’s very rare,” Rune said. “There is nothing to be done about it. The net broke. Boom that’s it. We just had to wait.”

Meanwhile, chair umpire Nico Hellworth sent both Sinner and Rune to the locker room so they wouldn’t have to sit on the sidelines in the afternoon heat.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, we are trying to fix the net as quickly as possible,” Hellworth announced to the crowd. “This is probably going to take a few minutes. Thank you for your patience.”

Each player had already taken a medical timeout during the match. Cena led 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 0-1 when action was stopped.

Sinner and the 21-year-old 13th-seeded Rooney of Denmark returned to the court to return to competition, applauding the fans.

The players were allowed three minutes to warm up before resuming with the Cena serve.