November 01, (THEWILL) -World number three, Daniil Medvedev, became the latest high seed to tumble out of the Paris Masters on Wednesday, losing to Grigor Dimitrov in three sets, after a heated exchange with the crowd. The Russian lost his temper and threatened to stop playing after being whistled by fans during the marathon match.
Medvedev was trailing Bulgarian Dimitrov for most of the contest before fighting back to force a deciding set. However, after throwing his racket earlier in frustration with the crowd, Medvedev shouted at the umpire and spectators, saying he would not play if fans kept whistling at him. The tense exchange seemed to throw Medvedev off his game.
The 6-3 6-7 7-6 defeat follows world number one, Carlos Alcaraz’s surprise loss to a qualifier on Tuesday. For Medvedev, it continues a rocky relationship with the Parisian crowd after similar incidents in recent years at the tournament. The world number three said after the match he hoped he could “turn the crowd around” in future appearances.
Dimitrov regained control in the deciding set and despite Medvedev saving match points late on, the Bulgarian was able to close out the gruelling match in a third set tiebreaker.
The result puts Dimitrov through to face American Tommy Paul in the next round. The 17th seed said he regretted letting Medvedev back into the match when serving for the win but was pleased to close it out in the end.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
