Players flee court after UAE drone attack causes nearby fire

Players and officials ran from the court at an ATP Challenger event in the United Arab Emirates when an Iranian drone attack led to a fire breaking out at an oil terminal located about 10km away.

Two matches were stopped in Fujairah - which is about 90 miles east of Dubai - shortly after the city's port was targeted on Tuesday morning. The ATP later cancelled the rest of the tournament.

A live feed on the ATP website showed Japan's Hayato Matsuoka and Russia's Daniil Ostapenkov, along with the umpire and line judges, dash off court early in the third set.

Tournament officials could be heard shouting instructions to leave the court.

"Relevant authorities responded to a fire that broke out in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, resulting from falling debris following the successful interception of a drone by air defence systems," the Government of Fujairah media office said in a statement.

Iranian drone and missile attacks have been fired towards the UAE over the past three days, in response to US and Israeli strikes on Iran.

Defence teams were still "working to contain the incident", the statement added. No injuries were reported.

Ukrainian player Vladyslav Orlov said he heard "jets flying around" while playing his match, adding there was a lot of smoke in the air.

"It's not very safe here right now," he added.

The ATP initially postponed play for the remainder of the day before cancelling the rest of this week's event and another Challenger Tour event in Fujairah scheduled for next week.

It added: "The safety and wellbeing of our players and tournament personnel is our highest priority. Players remain on site and are being fully supported, with accommodation and all immediate needs covered while onward travel arrangements are explored.

"We remain in close contact with local authorities, tournament organisers, and will continue to support players until they are able to travel safely."

British players Max Basing and Zach Stephens are among the players in the draw for this week's cancelled event.

Around 40 players, team members, officials and media remain stranded in Dubai.

Former world number one Daniil Medvedev and British doubles player Henry Patten were among those unable to leave after the Dubai Tennis Championships when airspace was closed in the region at the weekend.

All scheduled flights remain suspended, with only a limited number of planes - prioritising passengers with earlier bookings and those in transit through Dubai - taking off.

The possibility of the players driving out of Dubai and hiring private jets from neighbouring Oman has been explored over the past few days.

The prestigious Indian Wells tournament begins in California on Wednesday, although seeded singles players including Medvedev and fellow Russian player Andrey Rublev would not play until the weekend.