Fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria saved two match points against an irate Paul-Henri Mathieu, beating the French qualifier 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 on Monday to reach the second round of World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.
The 11th-ranked Dimitrov looked to be on his way out at 5-4 down in the second set, but recovered to force a tiebreaker, which is when Mathieu lost his temper on the way to losing the match.
He strongly objected to a replaying the first point of the tiebreaker and — after losing the set to an ace from Dimitrov — discussed the replayed point with a nonplussed Dimitrov for several moments.
Photo: EPA
Mathieu then turned his attentions to the chair umpire, remonstrating angrily and barking: “Do you understand tennis or not?” before finally walking off to the dressing room.
However, the break did him little good, as Dimitrov broke Mathieu’s faltering serve at the start of the third set.
After the match, the 33-year-old Mathieu was still keen to continue the argument with Dimitrov, who tried in vain to explain his own point before the players eventually left the court.
The 23-year-old Dimitrov next plays Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, who beat 20th-ranked David Goffin of Belgium 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (8/6), 6-3.
Earlier, Dominic Thiem advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over sixth-seeded Ernests Gulbis.
The 47th-ranked Thiem broke his Latvian opponent three times and lost just four points on his first serve to claim his first victory this season following consecutive first-round losses.
Seventh-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut also progressed to the second round after defeating German wild card Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-1.
Simone Bolelli breezed past Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-1 and next faces either second-seeded Milos Raonic or qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov.
Memphis Open
AFP, MEMPHIS
American Donald Young upset French eighth seed Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-6 (11/9) on Monday in the opening round of the ATP Memphis Open.
In a 90-minute showdown of lefthanders who both went out in the second round at the Australian Open last month, 67th-ranked Young booked a second-round match against a qualifier by downing the 40th-ranked Frenchman.
Young won the only break point of the first set, then took a 3-2 lead as the rivals exchanged five breaks of serve to begin the second set.
Mannarino broke back to 4-4 and they fought out a tense tiebreaker that the American finally claimed, having fired seven of his nine aces in the second set.
Mannarino, 26, reached a career-high ranking of 36th last month after a run to his first ATP final in Auckland, where he lost to Czech Jiri Vesely.
Young, 25, lost to Vesely in the Auckland quarter-finals.
Croatian Ivan Dodig, ranked 86th, advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over 72nd-ranked Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili.
Dodig fired five aces and never faced a break point in the 58-minute triumph, which set him up for a clash with US third seed John Isner, who had a first-round bye.
Top seed Kei Nishikori of Japan, South African second seed Kevin Anderson and Ukrainian fourth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov also received first-round byes.
BRAZIL OPEN
AP, SAO PAULO
Top-seeded Feliciano Lopez has pulled out of this week’s Brazil Open because of a right thigh injury.
Tournament officials on Monday said that the 14th-ranked Spaniard was hurt in the final of the tournament in Ecuador on Sunday. He lost the final 6-2, 6-7 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5) to Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic.
Lopez had been set to make his debut in Sao Paulo yesterday.
In the first day of action in the main draw at the ATP clay-court tournament, fifth-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay defeated Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain defeated Guilherme Clezar, Brazil 7-5, 7-5, while compatriot Nicolas Almagro beat Blaz Rola of Slovenia 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
In the men’s doubles, Argentines Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer beat Martin Klizan of Slovakia and Austrian Philipp Oswald 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).
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