US Open action is delayed when a fire alarm shuts down the electronic line-calling system

NEW YORK — Play in 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev's U.S. Open match in Arthur Ashe Stadium — and at all contests on other courts, too — was delayed for six minutes Monday when the tournament's electronic line-calling system stopped working because the building where it's housed was evacuated due to a fire alarm.

“Following the determination that this was only an alarm, play was resumed,” the U.S. Tennis Association said in a statement explaining the delay.

Medvedev took the first two sets against Nuno Borges and they were at 2-1 in the third set of their fourth-round match when chair umpire Nacho Forcadell told them they needed to stop.

“Ladies and gentlemen, due to a technical difficulty with the electronic line-calling system, we have paused the match,” Forcadell announced to the crowd in Ashe.

Medvedev wound up finishing off his 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 victory.

“It was a little bit strange. I made a good return. They’re like, ‘Stop! Stop!’ And we both didn’t understand what’s happening. Then they told us, ‘Yeah, there is a fire alarm in the room.’ I think the most important is everyone is safe,” Medvedev said. “Definitely first time. Yeah, strange experience, but it did help me, because the next two points, I felt like he started to get the momentum, and this broke it a little bit.”

A similar scene happened across the way at Louis Armstrong Stadium, where Beatriz Haddad Maia was serving for the first set of her match against 2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki when chair umpire Marijana Veljovic informed the players, then the spectators, there was a glitch with the automatic system that makes in and out line calls.

There were a total of 15 matches in progress at the time. Eventually, all resumed.

“That’s things that we don’t control,” Medvedev said. “Hopefully it never happens again.”