A semifinal doubles match at the ATP Challenger event in Tenerife ended in the most bizarre way possible.
Francesco Passaro and Matteo Gigante were taking on the second-seeded Marco Bortolotti and Sergio Martos Gornes. The Italian duo led 6-3, 5-4 in the match, when they faced a deuce on their serve.
At the majority of the ATP events, when there's a deuce in doubles, the next point decides who wins the game, so it doesn't go to advantage and deuce again. Therefore, Passaro and Gigante had a match point, but at the same time, they faced a break point.
Gigante, who was serving, hit his opponent, Martos Gornes, who was standing at the net, and since the Spaniard couldn't dodge the ball in time, it was a point for Gigante and Passaro, who won the match in probably the craziest way possible.
Journalist Damian Kust, who documented the whole situation, mentioned that it wasn't the first time that a player got hit with a serve in the match, he stated:
"Gigante snipes Martos Gornes with his 2nd serve on match point, taking this doubles match Ostapenko-style. Passaro had already sniped Bortolotti with his serve in the 1st set and Gigante almost did this three points earlier. Unintentional or a tactic?"
Sergio Martos Gornes, who was the player hit by the ball, commented the situation too, saying:
"Was it strike? It's better to laugh... It was very frustrating at the time and after the match.. but at the end it remains an anecdote and it's better to forget it!"
0 Comments