Félix Auger-Aliassime and Jack Draper clash ends in chaos after a match point decision

Friday’s match between Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and Briton Jack Draper at the Cincinnati Open was, in its early stages, a reason for people to come out to watch high-level tennis.

Auger-Aliassime won the first set 7–5, and Draper responded by winning the second 6–4. The outcome remained uncertain until the final point, when strange things started to happen.

Serving for the match, Draper appeared to hit the return into the ground before the ball popped out, hit the net and landed on Auger-Aliassime’s court. The umpire surprised everyone present by awarding play, the set and the match to Draper.

Auger-Aliassime walked over to the chair and protested violently.

“It’s awful what you just did,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Didn’t you see the ball bounce off the floor?”

The replay appeared to confirm Auger-Aliassime’s claims, while Draper claimed he had no knowledge of the case.

“I was too busy looking at (Auger-Aliassime),” Draper said after the match, via the BBC. “I said when the overseer came in that if it had been a double bounce and he had seen it clearly, I would have 100% retaken the point.”

The London-born tennis player will face Dane Holger Rune in the quarter-finals on Saturday evening.