French Open match suspended as fans scream in the crowd over medical emergency | Tennis | Sport

Play was suspended due to an emergency in the crowd in the early afternoon on Court Simonne-Mathieu. Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng – who won her gold medal here last summer – led teenage qualifier Victoria Mboko by a set and 5-3 when screaming was heard from the stands, prompting the match to be paused.

The players returned to their benches as medics were called to the stands, and the supervisor soon came out to see if they wanted to keep playing during the interruption after someone got “injured very badly”, noting that it could be a while before they were helped.

After commotion at the end of the game at 5-3, commentators quickly realised something was wrong.

“Something has happened in the crowd here at the top, a medical emergency right now. We are just going to have a bit of a delay here whilst whoever it is needs treatment gets the required assistance,” Adam Fielder said.

“I am sure the paramedics will be on site shortly to deal with this. So tough these situations, because you need the person to get the relevant assistance, just no idea how long this delay is going to be for the players.

“Tough for Zheng, having just saved those break points, she would have fancied her chances at riding the momentum into this next game and try to get this match won as quickly as possible. It’s just the not knowing, how long this is going to be.”

It’s a scorching day in Paris, with temperatures set to hit at least 30 degrees, and there was speculation over whether the spectator was struggling in the heat.

Co-commentator Lucie Ahl added: “That’s what the issue is, Mboko is still standing up and watching on, supervisor is coming onto the court. It is very hot, it was hotter yesterday but we’ve had these types of temperatures.”

Fielder noted that it was getting close to the heat of the day when play was suspended around 12.30pm local time and Ahl replied: “Wind has died down too, a bit change for the players in this tournament. We have had some tough conditions.”

The No. 8 seed and the Canadian continued to wait for responders to arrive at the scene. “Can’t see any paramedic up there at the moment, we might be waiting a while for play to continue,” Fielder said.

“If people are around the person who was ill, it doesn’t help either… here we go, paramedics have just arrived now. Trying to usher everyone out the way so they can get through.”

As medics attended to the fan in question, the supervisor also took to the court to discuss the situation with both players and gave them the chance to resume the match.

“It could be a long time, someone fell and they are injured very badly,” she told Zheng. They took the supervisor up on her offer and play resumed, with Mboko getting herself on the board one final time.

The Chinese star had to save a couple of break points before she ultimately sealed a 6-3 6-4 victory, booking her spot in the second week.