Denis Shapovalov faced three match points in a competitive quarterfinal against Ben Shelton at the Citi Open in Washington before chaos ensued, and he was defaulted from the match.
Shapovalov, who is currently World No. 139 in the ATP rankings, reached his first quarterfinal of the season after a gusty three-set comeback against Miomir Kecmanovic.
He's been playing some of his best tennis this week as he tries to address his recent ranking slide, which was caused by a long-term injury he sustained in the second half of last season.
However, it seems like his efforts will count for nothing after he was controversially disqualified from his match against Shelton in Washington. The reason was the use of profanity towards a spectator.
Shapovalov led 6-5 in the first set with a late break of serve. But he could not serve it out as Shelton broke back immediately. The ensuing tie-break was dominated by the American in a battle of the lefties, and he shut it at 7-5.
Both players held serve for the whole second set. Shelton saved a set point at 5-6 to force another tie-break. Shapovalov paid a high price for failing to consolidate or take his chances when presented with the opportunity.
At 3-5 down in the second-set tie-break, Shapovalov gave away another mini-break by netting a backhand shot. In frustration, he threw his racket to the turf, but not hard enough to break it.
Facing three match points, drama unfolded at this moment. Shapovalov was spotted having a face-to-face confrontation with a fan, who presumably might have said something in his direction to spark an indistinct chatter.
The chair umpire, Greg Allensworth, issued Shapovalov a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct and summoned the tournament supervisor to court.
"What are you talking about? What do you mean, he's talking to me and I'm gonna tell him off. Give me a code, but don't call the supervisor."
After a long and tense discussion between Shapovalov, the officials, and Shelton, who was also involved, a decision was made to disqualify the Canadian from the match. The chair umpire was convinced that Shapovalov used a swear word in a conversation with the fan.
Shapovalov was shocked by the decision, judging by his expression, and Shelton had some encouraging words to say at the net as they shook hands.
But it wasn't the last of the former World No. 10's meltdowns. He appears to utter an expletive at the supervisor while picking up his belongings from his bench to leave the court.
Shapovalov becomes the second high-profile name to be defaulted from a match on the ATP Tour this season after Andrey Rublev. The Russian was infamously given his marching orders after shouting at a line judge in Dubai.
It would be a double whammy if Shapovalov did not retain the 100 points he was to get from this tournament, which would help him rejoin the Top 100, and the $53,240 he was to receive as prize money because of the default. It remains to be seen if he will successfully appeal the decision like Rublev did.
Shelton, who progresses into the semifinal to play Flavio Cobolli, spoke to reporters after the match and sympathized with the Canadian. He stated that it was an "unfortunate" situation that a high-quality match ended the way it did.
"Yeah, I don't really have anything to say. It's unfortunate that a high-level match like that, such a great match that was highly contested, just an all-out war, ended like that. You never want to see it. Yeah, past that, I don't have anything to say."
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