Sela concedes quarter-final tie for Yom Kippur

Dudi Sela retired from his quarter-final match at the ATP Tour Shenzhen Open on Friday morning to ensure he wasn’t still playing at the start of Yom Kippur.

The Israeli was taking part in his first ATP Tour quarter-final match in nearly nine months, and secured his place in the last eight tie by defeating the tournament’s third seed and world No. 26 Mischa Zverev 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.

Requesting that today’s match against the world number 53, Ukrainian Alexander Dolphogolov, could start as early as possible to ensure it would end before Yom Kippur started in China, the match was second on the centre court. The 32-year-old, who’s ranked 77 in the world, lost the first set 6-3, before winning the second 7-5, to ensure a third and deciding set.

However, just eight minutes into the third set, having lost the opening game, he decided to retire from the match to ensure he wasn’t playing at the start of Yom Kippur.

As well as forfeiting the chance of reaching the semi-finals, he also lost out on potentially earning 90 ranking points and £30.000. His run in China has though earned him £18,000, and he is set to rise to around 69 in the world rankings.