NEW YORK — Daniil Medvedev angrily snatched a towel from a ball person’s hands, threw his racket toward the chair umpire and was captured on the big screens giving his middle finger.
All that in the first set of the fifth-seeded Medvedev’s third-round US Open match against Feliciano Lopez on Friday night turned the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd against him, resulting in a cascade of boos and thunderous cheers every time he lost a point.
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The drama midway through the first set began when a frustrated Medvedev snatched the towel from a ball person and was given a code violation by umpire Damien Dumusois. Medvedev then threw his racket in the direction of Dumusois, barked something at him and later flashed his middle finger next to his forehead as he walked past the umpire’s chair.
Even in the midst of that turmoil, Medvedev went on to win that drama-filled set in a tiebreaker, 7-1, before Lopez won the second set 6-4. At one point in that set, the anti-Medvedev crowd began chanting “Lopez! Lopez!”
Medvedev led 6-5 in the third set.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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