Jack Draper booked a place in the last eight of the Cincinnati Open as he came from behind to beat Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 5-7 6-4 6-4 after a controversial match point.
It was a third successive three-set victory for Draper, who will meet Danish 15th seed Holger Rune in the quarter-finals.
Auger-Aliassime had already beaten No 7 seed Casper Ruud 6-3 6-1 earlier in the day after rain prevented them taking to the court on Thursday night, but he showed no signs of tiredness in the first set, seizing on his only break point in the 12th game.
It was the only break point the Canadian would have throughout the match as Draper fought back to claim victory.
The match ended in controversy with Auger-Aliassime arguing the ball had hit the frame of Draper’s racket and then the ground on match point, looping up onto the net cord and over.
The players engaged in a lengthy discussion with the umpire, as the crowd chanted for a replay, but the call stood.
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Following his controversial win over Felix Auger Aliassime, Jack Draper says he ‘would have 100% replayed the point’ if the supervisor had requested him to.
Speaking after the match, Draper insisted he would have “100 per cent replayed the point” had he asked to by a tournament supervisor, but said he had been unclear as to what had happened.
“I serve-volleyed, he hit an amazing pass at my feet. I was shocked at the pass, I was too busy looking at him. I didn’t see what happened,” Draper said.
“I looked at the umpire straight away to see if he called a double bounce or not. As a player, I’m trying to focus on what I’m doing – I can’t make that call. I said when the supervisor came on that if you said it was a double bounce and he saw it clearly, I would have 100 per cent replayed the point.
“The amont of times in the last 12 months where I’ve had to do the right thing sometimes… we’ve had a long battle out here and it would be ultra-unfair on Felix if the match was won in that kind of way. I couldn’t make that call myself.”
How match point controversy unfolded
Draper is through to the Cincinnati Open quarters, but only after a hugely controversial match point vs Auger-Aliassime
Draper mishits a volley into the ground off the frame of his racket, which loops up onto the net cord and over onto Auger-Aliassime’s side on match point.
Umpire Gregory Allensworth: “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m ruling that that was a fair shot. Game, set and match, Draper.”
Draper: “I would replay it (the point). If there was a replay, I would replay, but I don’t know.”
Auger-Aliassime: “Jack, you know…”
Draper: “I wasn’t looking at the ground. I wasn’t looking, though. If there was a replay…”
Auger-Aliassime to Allensworth: “That’s horrendous what you just did. Did you not see the ball bounce on the floor?”
Allensworth: “It bounced up from the cord and went over?”
Auger-Aliassime: “No, no no. Like on the floor?”
Allensworth: “Like after he hit it?”
Auger-Aliassime: “He shanked it on the floor, what do you mean?”
Allensworth: “I didn’t see that.”
Auger-Aliassime: “He shanked it on the floor.”
Allensworth: “I did not see that. I saw it come off the frame and over.”
Auger-Aliassime: “You’re going to get out now (from the court), and it’s going to be everywhere. And it’s going to look ridiculous. I’m serious, it’s going to look ridiculous. It’s going to be crazy, and I know it’s not his (Draper) place to make that call, it’s match point for him, it’s the win for him, but it’s your place to make that call.”
Draper: “Felix, can I say something to you? I was looking at you.”
Auger-Aliassime: “It doesn’t matter where you were looking. You’ve played enough that you know when you hit it, you know where it went. It’s for you (Allensworth) to make that call. Are you seriously not coming back on your call?”
Allensworth: “That’s how I saw it.”
*Crowd chants “replay.”*
Draper: “I don’t know, I was looking at him (Auger-Aliassime). It’s your (Allensworth) call.”
Allensworth: “Yeah, no I saw. You got it.”
Auger-Aliassime calls supervisor down to the court
Allensworth: “This is a judgement call, but yeah we can talk about it.”
Draper: “That’s why I asked about the replay. This is why I said about the replay earlier. I might look like an idiot now, because people say I’m not being fair. But I was looking at him.”
Allensworth to supervisor: “So I ruled that the ball bounced and hit it off the frame over the net. Completely fair shot in my mind, then it’s game, set and match.”
Draper to supervisor: “How did you see it?”
Supervisor: “I looked from behind. I couldn’t tell you. From behind it’s impossible.”
Draper: “Okay you looked from behind, but if you were to tell me that it hit the floor, I’d play the point again. I would play the point again, but I don’t know. That’s why I said about the replay earlier. Felix, if he says to me right now that the ball hit the ground, and he saw it on TV, I would play the point again.”
Auger-Aliassime: “For me, that’s the best case scenario.”
Supervisor: “No, we cannot replay the point. He (umpire Allensworth) needs to make the call, and only you (Draper) can rescind the point.”
Draper: “But I didn’t see it, so I don’t know. I didn’t see it, Felix.”
Supervisor: “So that’s his (Allensworth) call.”
Auger-Aliassime: “Look, I’m going to ask you (Allensworth) one last time, if you’re 100 per cent sure that you’re not going to leave here, and that you have no doubt, not one ounce of doubt in yourself that that was a clean volley winner. And if you tell me yes, I’ll shake his (Draper) hand and the match will be over.”
Allensworth: “I just have to call it how I saw it, Felix. This is how I am, and this is how I saw it. If I had a doubt, I would tell you, but listen, we can go back and look at it after the match and if I see I’m wrong, I’ll admit it to you. But for now, I can’t go back and look at it.”
Auger-Aliassime: “Yeah, but that’s going to be too late.”
Allensworth: “I understand that. But this is how I saw it.”
Draper: “I can’t replay the point, because I didn’t see it.”
Auger-Aliassime shakes Draper’s hand to end the match
Alcaraz knocked out by Monfils; Rune, Zverev, Rublev all through
Rune also had to come from behind to beat France’s Gael Monfils 3-6 6-3 6-4.
World No 46 Monfils had earlier completed a victory over Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz when their round of 32 match resumed.
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Highlights of the match between Holger Rune and Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open
Rain had forced the players off on Thursday night with Alcaraz a set up but 3-1 down in a second set tie-break.
Monfils was quickly out of the blocks to level the contest, and he then took the decider for a 4-6 7-6 (5) 6-4 triumph.
Third seed Alexander Zverev reached the quarter-finals with a 7-5 7-6 (6) victory over Spain’s Pablo Carrero Busta.
And Andrey Rublev enjoyed a comfortable passage to the last eight, defeating American Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (5) 6-1.
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