HALLE, Germany — Alexander Zverev and an umpire helped out with ice after a spectator was struck by a falling advertising board during his match at the Halle grass-court tournament Wednesday.
The board fell from the upper tier of the stadium into the crowd on the lower tier and struck a female spectator, organizers said, adding that Zverev and umpire Renaud Lichtenstein rushed over with ice to treat her.
“Something like this has never happened in the 32-year history of our tournament. We deeply regret the incident,” tournament director Ralf Weber told German news agency dpa, which reported that Weber had given the spectator a free pass for next year’s tournament.
She was taken to a hospital as a precaution but did not appear to be badly hurt, dpa reported.
It didn’t stop Zverev from racing to a 6-1, 6-2 win over American Marcos Giron in the first round of the tournament, a warmup for Wimbledon. It continued the German player’s strong form on grass after he was the runner-up in Stuttgart last week.
Also Wednesday at Halle, third-seeded Daniil Medvedev won 6-2, 7-5 over Quentin Halys and eighth-seeded Karen Khachanov won 7-5, 6-3 against Zizou Bergs in the first round.
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