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'Oh my God': Tennis world stunned by blackout drama

Riley Morgan
·Sports Reporter
·3-min read
Kei Nishikori (pictured left) frustrated during his match and Gael Monfils in a rally at the Italian Open (pictured right) when the lights went out during play.
Kei Nishikori (pictured left) was one of the players in a match when the lights went out at the Italian Open (pictured right) during play. (Images: Getty Images/TennisTV)

Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti continues to stun the tennis world after defeating Kei Nishikori in Rome, but it was the mid-match drama that had fans bemused.

Musetti has become the first player born in the year 2002 to win an official ATP match, shocking Stan Wawrinka 6-0, 7-6(2) at the Italian Open.

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But the 18-year-old rising star proved he can maintain the astonishing level after defeating Nishikori 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the Third Round.

But at 4-4 in the second set, Nishikori was hanging on when an unexpected event interrupted his serve.

Nishikori tossed up the ball to serve when the lights in the stadium went out.

The arena was cast into darkness and Musetti can be heard expressing shock.

The blackout affected other matches with the lights out occurring during the middle of the rally between between Dominik Koepfer and Gael Monfils.

Fans were quick to joke it was typical for yet another unexpected event to interrupt the tennis schedule in 2020.

Showing experience beyond his years, Musetti maintained his nerves and broke Nishikori following the lights out break.

While the young Italian keeps turning heads on the men’s side of the draw, Victoria Azarenka stunned fans on the women’s side.

Azarenka stuns former Aus Open champ

Tennis fans and commentators were left stunned on Thursday after Azarenka took down Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-0, 6-0.

Azarenka, fresh from her run to the US Open final, produced an absolute masterclass on centre court at the Italian Open to knock out third seed and World No.5 Kenin.

Azarenka, who lost to Naomi Osaka in the US Open final on Saturday and flew in to Rome to beat Venus Williams in a two-hour first-round match on Wednesday, needed only an hour to dispatch the Australian Open champion.

American Kenin, who received a bye into the second round, had no answers to Azarenka's consistency from the baseline and made a string of errors, finishing the match with 22 unforced errors while Azarenka made only four.