France’s Benjamin Bonzi stunned 13th seed Daniil Medvedev in a dramatic five-set battle at the US Open late Monday night in New York, advancing to the second round after a match marred by a controversial umpire decision and heated exchanges.
Benjamin Bonzi pulled off one of the early shocks of the US Open, ousting former champion and 13th seed Daniil Medvedev in a roller-coaster five-set duel that stretched nearly four hours. The Frenchman prevailed 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 0-6, 6-4 in a tense encounter that saw momentum swing dramatically after a controversial third-set interruption.
The drama reached boiling point late in the third set when Bonzi, serving on match point at 5-4, was interrupted after a photographer accidentally walked onto the court. Chair umpire Greg Allensworth ruled the intrusion as “outside interference,” allowing Bonzi a fresh first serve. The decision infuriated Medvedev, who stormed across the court to confront the umpire, accusing him of trying to finish the match early.
“Are you a man? Are you a man?” Medvedev shouted, before telling the crowd that the umpire “wants to go home” and “gets paid by the match, not by the hour.” The Russian then roused the audience into a frenzy of boos and jeers, causing a six-minute delay before play resumed.
The delay rattled Bonzi, who squandered match point and lost the set in a tie-break, then collapsed 0-6 in the fourth as Medvedev roared back. But the Frenchman regained his composure in the decider, twice breaking back before finally sealing the match with a crucial break of Medvedev’s serve.
“It was crazy. I may have got some new fans but also some new non-fans,” Bonzi said, thanking even the booing spectators for fueling his energy in the fifth set. He admitted the third-set incident shook him: “I never experienced something like that. Maybe we wait five minutes before the match point and it was so difficult to play,”