World number three Alexander Zverev sprinted off court to vomit mid-match but recovered to beat Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 6-4 7-6 (8-6) at the Halle Open.
In the second game of his quarter-final of the grass-court tournament Zverev requested a toilet break and ran off court to be sick.
He looked visibly unwell on his return and initially struggled in longer rallies, but he got better as the match went on and managed to hold off world number 24 Cobolli.
“I felt fine before the match. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I felt really, really bad. I felt ill, went to throw up and then 15 minutes later I felt OK again,” the 28-year-old German said.
“I don’t know what it was, I’ve never experienced that before. I hope I’ll be fine in the next couple of hours when the adrenaline settles.”
In the semi-finals Zverev will face Daniil Medvedev, whose match on Friday was also briefly delayed when the Russian had a nosebleed on court.
Despite needing a medical timeout in the second set, the former world number one ended up cruising to a 6-4 6-3 win over American Alex Michelsen to keep his preparations for Wimbledon on track, with 10 days to go before the start of the grass-court Grand Slam.
“The shadows on the court made the conditions quite difficult. It took some time to get used to it,” Medvedev, 29, said.