Daniil Medvedev DQ'd from China Open semifinal for hitting fan with ball during match

Daniil Medvedev struck a spectator with a ball and was disqualified from his semifinal against Novak Djokovic at the China Open on Monday in Beijing.

The male spectator was helped from his seat holding a hand over his left eye as Medvedev watched from the court.

"I feel terribly sorry for him actually and I just hope he's OK," Medvedev said. "Hopefully I can meet him and make up for it somehow."

Djokovic was serving for the match at 7-5, 5-3 when Medvedev hit the ball into the stands in apparent frustration. After a forehand volley winner from Djokovic, the ball bounced off the advertising boards and back toward Medvedev, who smacked a backhand that sailed into the front row.

"It was 100 per cent an accident," Medvedev said. "You can see that I didn't hit the ball in anger. … The ball was bouncing back, so I tried to just hit it anywhere, so it wouldn't go out of the court."

Immediately after striking the spectator, Medvedev appeared to wave his left hand in apology. He remained on the court.

"When I saw the result, I felt horrible," Medvedev said. "The most important thing is I hope that he's OK because you never know with these types of situations."

The chair umpire and tournament supervisor came down onto the court to talk with Medvedev, who didn't appear to put up much of an argument with the disqualification. Medvedev then walked to the net and shook hands with Djokovic.

The incident was reminiscent of when Djokovic was kicked out of the 2020 U.S. Open for accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball.

"A bit of a shock, to be honest," Djokovic said. "I honestly didn't see what happened. I hope that person is not badly injured. On the other hand, I also feel sorry for Daniil, because I know exactly