Offended about tennis politics, Vasek Pospisil of Canada staged a tantrum and was docked a degree to lose the primary set Wednesday within the opening spherical on the Miami Open.
Pospisil, who has been attempting to arrange a brand new group to characterize males’s skilled gamers, regained his composure however misplaced to qualifier Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Throughout a changeover after his first-set meltdown, Pospisil used a profanity to explain ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, and complained a couple of assembly they each attended Tuesday.
Pospisil instructed the chair umpire Gaudenzi was “screaming at me in a participant assembly for attempting to unite the gamers — for an an hour and a half. … If you wish to default me, I’ll gladly sue this entire group.”
Pospisil and No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic have been attempting to arrange the brand new group. Tennis gamers by no means have had a union, not like athletes in North American group sports activities.
The ATP didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Pospisil’s tirade.
Pospisil angrily launched a ball out of the court docket and smashed two rackets within the first set. Serving whereas going through a set level, he was penalized for verbal abuse to lose the set.
A former top-25 participant, Pospisil is now ranked 67th.
In ladies’s play, American Sloane Stephens earned her first victory of the 12 months by rallying previous qualifier Oceane Dodin of 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2.
Stephens, who gained the event in 2018, had been 0-4 beforehand this 12 months and hadn’t gained a match for the reason that French Open in September. Towards Dodin, Stephens fell behind after she didn’t convert two units within the opening set, however she pulled away within the closing set.
Stephens, ranked forty ninth, is amongst six former champions within the ladies’s draw.
Wild-card Ana Konjuh of Croatia gained her first main-draw match in a WTA occasion since 2018 when she beat Katerina Siniakova 7-6 (3), 7-5. Konjuh’s profession has been slowed by 4 elbow surgical procedures.
Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain overcame two match factors and a 5-1 deficit within the closing set to overhaul Bernarda Pera 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. American Danielle Collins swept Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-3, and Jelena Ostapenko defeated Xiyu Wang 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1.
On the primary day of males’s play, Alexei Popyrin constructed on his latest momentum by beating Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 7-6 (4). Popyrin, a 21-year-old Australian who gained his first ATP Tour title late final month in Singapore, will subsequent play big-serving American Reilly Opelka, who’s seeded thirtieth.
Lopez, 39, was the oldest participant within the males’s draw.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France, runner-up on the latest Open 13 in Marseille, France, beat Pedro Sousa 6-1, 6-3. Herbert will subsequent face No. 11-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
