Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas launched an unbelievable rant at tennis umpire Fergus Murphy at the Shanghai Masters, a day after the USA’s Frances Tiafoe produced an expletive-laden tirade at the same event.
Tsitsipas was facing fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev for a place in the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 event, ultimately losing out 7-6 (3) 6-3.
Having been given a time violation and lost a serve to his opponent – just as Tiafoe did in defeat vs Roman Safiullin on Tuesday by Ecuadorian chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote – Tsitsipas engaged in a bizarre argument with Irish umpire Murphy, refusing to play in the next game for a prolonged period.
“You have never played tennis in your life. You have no clue about tennis, it seems like,” Tsitsipas said. “Definitely you’ve had no career. You probably played serve-and-volley every single time.
“Anyways, tennis is a physical sport and we need some time over there. You have to show some compassion because you aren’t showing any.
“It’s a physical sport. We are not throwing darts out here, okay?
“If it’s going to be unfair, I need to talk to the supervisor. You seem like you have no idea what you’re doing.
“If you’re going to gift a game like this to my opponent, I need to speak to the supervisor.”
Murphy replied: “We have the clocks. The shot clock starts automatically, I’m in charge of the shot clock.
“We can’t stop for this. I’m following the rules.”
Elsewhere, Jannik Sinner avenged his defeat to Ben Shelton in the fourth round of last year’s Shanghai Masters with a 6-4, 7-6 (1) to spoil the 22-year-old American’s birthday.
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Highlights of the round of 16 match between Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton at the Shanghai Masters
Second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who won the China Open in a thriller against Sinner last week, made it 12 consecutive wins with a testing 6-4 7-5 victory over French veteran Gael Monfils to advance to the quarter-finals.
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Highlights of the round of 16 match between Carlos Alcaraz and Gael Monfils at the Shanghai Masters
Later on Wednesday, Novak Djokovic continues his bid for a 100th career title as he faces 61st-ranked Safiullin.
Also, third-ranked Alexander Zverev plays David Goffin of Belgium and seventh-ranked Taylor Fritz plays Holger Rune of Denmark.
Wuhan Open – Sabalenka and Gauff among those victorious
Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka maintained her undefeated record at the Wuhan Open, opening her campaign with a 6-4 6-4 win over 37th-ranked Katerina Siniakova in a second-round match on Wednesday.
Two-time defending champion Sabalenka, who received a bye in the first round with the other top eight seeds, broke her Czech opponent twice in each set – as well as surrendering one of her own service games – as she clinched her latest win in 1 hour and 34 minutes of play.
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Highlights of the round 32 match between Aryna Sabalenka and Katerina Siniakova at the Wuhan Open
In the third round, the 26-year-old Belarussian will play Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, who ended Paris Olympics silver medalist Donna Vekic’s tournament with 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory.
There were six Americans in second round matches on Wednesday.
China Open champion Coco Gauff routed Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova 6-1 6-2 in 75 minutes, while Hailey Baptiste upset 10th-ranked Barbora Krejcikova 6-3 7-5 for her first win over a Top-10 player.
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Highlights of the round 32 match between Coco Gauff and Viktorija Tomova at the Wuhan Open
Magdalena Frech beat eighth-ranked Emma Navarro 6-4 3-6 6-3 in just over two hours, and No11-ranked Daria Kasatkina overcame a mid-match stumble to defeat American Bernarda Pera 6-4 1-6 6-1.
What’s coming up on Sky Sports Tennis in October?
- Shanghai Masters – ATP 1000 (October 2-13)
- Wuhan Open – WTA 1000 (October 6-12)
- Almaty Open, Kazakhstan – ATP 250 (October 14-20)
- Stockholm Open, Sweden – ATP 250 (October 14-20)
- European Open, Antwerp – ATP 250 (October 14-20)
- Japan Open, Osaka – WTA 250 (October 14-20)
- Ningbo Open, China – WTA 500 (October 14-20)
- Erste Bank Open, Vienna – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Swiss Indoors, Basel – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Guangzhou Open, China – WTA 250 (October 21-27)
- Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, Tokyo – WTA 500 (October 21-27)
Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.