French Open star asks opponent to join umpire protest at crucial moment in third set
Hubert Hurkacz made a strange request to Grigor Dimitrov during their French Open showdown.
Hubert Hurkacz asked Grigor Dimitrov to join him in protesting against the umpire in a bizarre moment during their French Open showdown. Dimitrov beat Hurkacz in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals at Roland Garros but the match was not without controversy.
Dimitrov raced into a two-set lead, edging a tiebreak to clinch the first before upping his game to comfortably win the second. Hurkacz, meanwhile, grew increasingly frustrated with the umpire and lost his cool after being angered by a decision towards the end of the match.
The Pole was left furious with one of his shots being called out in the third set despite replays showing that the umpire had called it correctly. He made no secret of his frustration as he repeatedly screamed: "Call the supervisor!" before making a bizarre request to Dimitrov during a change of ends.
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Hurkacz approached Dimitrov and asked him: "You wanna continue? You wanna continue with the lady here or you wanna change?" A bewildered Dimitrov said: "Change what?" with Hurkacz replying: "Change the umpire!"
Dimitrov, who was clearly baffled, returned to his seat before Hurkacz approached him again for another brief conversation. However, it was not clear what was said.
Hurkacz's inability to keep his emotions in check ended up costing him the match, with Dimitrov staying calm and winning a third-set tiebreak to book his place in the French Open quarter-finals. It marked the first time he had reached the last eight at Roland Garros after 15 years of trying.
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Speaking in his on-court interview, Dimitrov said: "I always wanted to get to the second week but the French Open was the only Slam where I felt like I never could get that extra step. Today, 15 years later, I made it."
Elsewhere at Roland Garros, it was a good day for Carlos Alcaraz with the Spaniard cruising to a straight-sets victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime. Iga Swiatek progressed in the women's event with a double-bagel triumph over Anastasia Potapova, getting the job done in just 41 minutes.
Coco Gauff also extended her winning run with a similarly quick 6-1 6-2 win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto in exactly one hour. Ons Jabeur and Marketa Vondrousova recorded victories of their own, beating Clara Tauson and Olga Danilovic respectively to get themselves into the last eight.
