RED CARD: Medvedev disqualification sends Djokovic to final

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Novak Djokovic advanced to the China Open final on Monday after Daniil Medvedev was disqualified late in the second set when a ball that came off the Russian’s racket hit a spectator.

A man sitting in the stands behind Medvedev’s side of the court was seen holding his face and escorted from his seat after being hit, as Djokovic was serving for the match with the score at 7-5, 5-3.

Eleventh-ranked Djokovic will play world No. 9 Alex de Minaur for the title Tuesday in Beijing.

The Australian had advanced over Hubert Hurkacz after the 29-year-old from Poland retired from their semifinal with an adductor muscle strain.

Medvedev’s disqualification arose from a moment deep in the match. When he failed to return a point, the ball bounced off the back wall and Medvedev hit it with a backhand up into the stands, with the chair umpire stopping play.

“Terribly sorry to the spectator, first of all,” he told reporters afterwards, adding it was “100 percent an accident” and that he wished to apologize to the fan in person.

“The ball was bouncing back, so I tried to, like, just hit it anywhere, so it doesn’t go out of the court,” he said.

It had been a physical battle before Medvedev’s disqualification.

Djokovic was red-faced and hunched over between points, with both players forcing each other through grueling rallies, until the Serbian took control in the second set.

The 39-year-old put on a dazzling performance and saved 16 break points across the match, diving at the baseline and sprinting to the net.

“I didn’t see what happened, to be honest,” Djokovic told the crowd after the fan was hit.

“I’m sure that Daniil didn’t do it intentionally. It happened by accident. Sorry for the crowd,” he said, adding that it had been a tough contest.

“I know the feeling,” Djokovic told reporters later, recounting his own disqualification from the 2020 US Open after accidentally hitting a ball at a line judge.

“It’s horrible... but it happens,” he said.

Although Djokovic was three points away from winning the match, he said victory wouldn’t have come easy and that he got “lucky” in a “very exhausting” battle.

In the women’s draw, third-seeded Coco Gauff dispatched Chinese teenager Sun Xinran 7-5, 6-1 to secure a meeting with Belgium’s Elise Mertens in the Round of 16.

“Today was really just about feeling,” said the 22-year-old American, adding that it could be tough to play young players with styles largely unknown.

“I was just trying not to get frustrated out there,” Gauff added, with a loud crowd behind the 16-year-old.

Former world No. 1 Iga Swiatek staged a comeback to advance, dominating a must-win tie-break to beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 4-6, 7-6 (7/0), 6-2.

“I was just angry, wanted to change something, because clearly it wasn’t working,” the 25-year-old from Poland said in court.