Monday, December 23, 2024

Frustrations boil over as Andrey Rublev is knocked out of French Open

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Russian hot-head Andrey Rublev lost his cool spectacularly as he crashed out of the French Open.

The sixth seed had a heated argument with umpire Lazemar Engzell over the mark left by a disputed line call during the second set of his third-round clash with Matteo Arnaldi.

Rublev promptly dropped serve and exploded with rage, smashing his racket to the ground and screaming towards his players’ box.

Andrey Rublev threw his racket to the court (Jean-Francois Badias/AP)

At the changeover the 26-year-old repeatedly kicked his seat, leaving large dents in it.

In the third set Rublev, by now on the verge of tears, began furiously hitting his own knee with his racket.

Rublev usually saves his meltdowns for the quarter-finals, having never got past one at a grand slam.

But this was an even earlier exit for the world number six as he slumped to a 7-6 (6) 6-2 6-4 defeat to 23-year-old Italian Arnaldi.

There was more joy for Italy when second seed Jannik Sinner eased through.

The 22-year-old Australian Open champion took his grand slam winning streak to 10 matches with a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory over another Russian, Pavel Kotov.

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