Representative image showing a fire alarm.
Credit: iStock Photo
New York: Fourth round matches at the U.S. Open on Tuesday were briefly stopped due to a fire alarm in the building housing the technical booth where they operate Hawkeye - the electronic line calling (ELC) system.
The tournament at Flushing Meadows does not have line judges stationed on court and relies completely on Hawkeye for calls.
Television footage showed officials leaving the video replay room after play was stopped.
"Due to a fire alarm in the broadcast building, which also houses ELC Live operations, play was halted throughout the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as the building was evacuated," tournament organisers said in a statement.
"Following the determination that this was only an alarm, play was resumed. In total, play was halted for six minutes."
Daniil Medvedev was leading Nuno Borges 6-0 6-1 1-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium when the chair umpire suddenly stopped play and asked both players to approach him so he could explain the situation, before they sat down and waited.
"We both didn't understand what's happening. Then they told us, yeah, there is a fire alarm in the room," said Medvedev.
The Russian fifth seed won the match 6-0 6-1 6-3.
"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," Medvedev told reporters. "That's things that we don't control. Hopefully it never happens again."
The women's match between Caroline Wozniacki and Beatriz Haddad Maia at Louis Armstrong Stadium was also stopped for around six minutes before play resumed.
Haddad Maia went on to beat the veteran Wozniacki 6-2 3-6 6-3.