Djokovic into seventh China Open final as Medvedev defaulted for hitting fan with ball

[p]A man sitting in the stands behind [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/medvedev-daniil/O8qG0Nhb/"]Medvedev[/a]'s side of the court was seen holding his face and escorted out of his seat after being hit, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/djokovic-novak/AZg49Et9/"]Djokovic[/a] was serving for the match with the score at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/djokovic-n-AZg49Et9/medvedev-d-O8qG0Nhb/?mid=lEJ8JcmC"]7-5, 5-3[/a].[/p][p][b]Eleventh-ranked Djokovic will play world number nine [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/de-minaur-alex/EZgZ9Xfh/"]Alex de Minaur[/a] for the title on Tuesday in Beijing.[/b][/p][p]The Australian had advanced over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hurkacz-hubert/zuHOBnY9/"]Hubert Hurkacz[/a] after the 29-year-old from Poland [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/de-minaur-a-EZgZ9Xfh/hurkacz-h-zuHOBnY9/?mid=Y9DqWWxe"]retired from their semi-final[/a] with an abductor strain.[/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="5d060be8-5be9-48e6-9783-1f8326f676d1" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="10ca49cb-96e3-44bd-98fc-918e6a77df07" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Medvedev hit the ball with a backhand at the edge of the stands when he failed to return a point, with the chair umpire stopping play.[/p][p][b]"Terribly sorry to the spectator, first of all,"[/b] he told reporters afterwards, adding it was [b]"100% an accident"[/b] and that he wished to apologise to the fan in person.[/p][p][b]"The ball was bouncing back, so I tried to, like, just hit it anywhere, so it doesn't go out from the court,"[/b] he said.[/p][p]It had been a physical battle before Medvedev's disqualification.[/p][p]Djokovic was red-faced and hunched over between points, with both players forcing each other through gruelling rallies, until the Serbian took control in the second set.[/p][p]A valiant Djokovic, 39, put on a dazzling performance and saved 16 break points across the match, diving at the baseline and sprinting to the net.[/p][p][b]"I didn't see what happened, to be honest," [/b]he told the crowd after the fan was hit.[/p][embed guid="7cfa034d-9a32-427f-ae74-f76c3cb13127" url="https://x.com/atptour/status/2107107702929531269" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]"I'm sure that Daniil didn't... do it intentionally. It happened by accident. Sorry for the crowd,"[/b] he said, adding that it had been a tough match.[/p][p][b]"I know the feeling," [/b]Djokovic told reporters later, recounting his own disqualification from the 2020 US Open after accidentally hitting a ball at a line judge.[/p][p][b]"It's horrible... but it happens," [/b]he said.[/p][p]Although Djokovic was three points away from winning the match, he said victory wouldn't have come easy and that he got "lucky" in a "very exhausting" battle.[/p]