Joe McConnell
Jack Draper booked his spot in the final eight of the Cincinnati Open by coming from behind to beat Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 5-7 6-4 6-4 after a controversial match point.
It was Draper’s third straight three-set win, as he faces 15th-seeded Danish player Holger Rune in the quarterfinals.
Auger-Aliassime had already beaten No. 7 seed Casper Ruud 6-3 6-1 earlier after rain prevented him from playing on Thursday night, but showed no signs of fatigue in the first set, grabbing his only break point in the 12th game.
It was the only break point the Canadian had during the match, while Draper recovered and took the victory.
The match ended in controversy: Auger-Aliassime claimed that the ball had hit Draper’s racket frame and then the court at match point, bouncing off the net cord and landing there.
The players had a long discussion with the referee, while the crowd shouted that the match could be replayed, but the decision was overturned.
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After his controversial win over Felix Auger Aliassime, Jack Draper says he “would have replayed the point 100%” if the supervisor had asked him to.
Speaking after the match, Draper insisted he would “100 percent replay the point” if a tournament supervisor asked him to, but said it was unclear to him what had happened.
“I hit a serve volley, he hit an unbelievable pass to my feet. I was shocked by the pass, I was too busy watching him. I didn’t see what happened,” Draper said.
“I immediately looked at the referee to see if he had called a double bounce or not. As a player, I’m trying to focus on what I’m doing, I can’t make that call. I said when the supervisor came in that if I had said it was a double bounce and he had seen it clearly, I would have replayed the point 100 percent.
“The numerous times over the last 12 months where I’ve had to do the right thing at times… we’ve had a long battle here and it would have been ultra-unfair to Felix if the game had been won that way. I couldn’t do it alone.”
How the match point controversy unfolded
Draper advanced to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open, but only after a highly controversial match point against Auger-Aliassime
Draper misses a volley that lands on the frame of his racket, which gets stuck in the net cord and lands on Auger-Aliassime’s side, at match point.
Referee Gregory Allensworth: “Ladies and gentlemen, I decree that this was a fair shot. Game, set and match, Draper.”
Draper: “I would do it again (the point). If there was a replay, I would do it again, but I don’t know.”
Auger-Aliassime: “Jack, you know…”
Draper: “I wasn’t looking at the ground. I wasn’t looking, though. If there had been a replay…”
From Auger-Aliassime to Allensworth: “That’s horrible what you just did. Didn’t you see the ball bounce on the floor?”
Allensworth: “Did it bounce off the cable and fall?”
Auger-Aliassime: “No, no no. Like on the floor?”
Allensworth: “How after you hit him?”
Auger-Aliassime: “He slammed him to the ground, what do you mean?”
Allensworth: “I didn’t see it.”
Auger-Aliassime: “He threw him to the ground.”
Allensworth: “I didn’t see it. I saw it come off the frame and finish.”
Auger-Aliassime: “Now you’re going to walk out (of the court), and it’s going to be everywhere. And it’s going to look ridiculous. I’m serious, it’s going to look ridiculous. It’s going to be crazy, and I know it’s not his (Draper) job to make that call, it’s a match point for him, it’s the win for him, but it’s your job to make that call.”
Draper: “Felix, can I tell you something? I was watching you.”
Auger-Aliassime: “It doesn’t matter where you were looking. You’ve played long enough to know when you hit it, you know where it went. It’s up to you (Allensworth) to make that call. You really don’t go back on your call?”
Allensworth: “That’s how I saw it.”
*The crowd shouts “replay.”*
Draper: “I don’t know, I was watching him (Auger-Aliassime). It’s up to you (Allensworth).”
Allensworth: “Yes, no, I saw. You understood.”
Auger-Aliassime calls supervisor to court
Allensworth: “This is a subjective judgment, but yes, we can talk about it.”
Draper: “That’s why I asked about the replay. That’s why I talked about the replay before. I might sound like an idiot now, because people say I’m not fair. But I was watching it.”
Allensworth to the supervisor: “So I decided the ball bounced and hit the frame above the net. Totally correct shot in my mind, so it was game, set and match.”
Draper to the supervisor: “How did you see it?”
Supervisor: “I looked from behind. I couldn’t tell you. From behind it’s impossible.”
Draper: “Okay, you watched from behind, but if you told me it hit the ground, I would play the point again. I would play the point again, but I don’t know. That’s why I talked about the replay before. Felix, if you told me now that the ball hit the ground, and you saw it on TV, I would play the point again.”
Auger-Aliassime: “For me, this is the best case scenario.”
Supervisor: “No, we cannot retake the point. He (referee Allensworth) has to make the decision, and only you (Draper) can overturn the point.”
Draper: “But I haven’t seen it, so I don’t know. I haven’t seen it, Felix.”
Supervisor: “So the decision is up to him (Allensworth).”
Auger-Aliassime: “Look, I’m going to ask you (Allensworth) one last time, if you’re 100 percent sure that you’re not walking away from here, and that you have no doubt, not one ounce of doubt in yourself that that was a clean volley winner. And if you say yes, I’ll shake his (Draper’s) hand and the match will be over.”
Allensworth: “I just have to say how I saw it, Felix. This is how I am, and this is how I saw it. If I had a doubt, I would tell you, but listen, we can go back and watch it after the game and if I see that I’m wrong, I’ll admit it to you. But for now, I can’t go back and watch it.”
Auger-Aliassime: “Yes, but it will be too late.”
Allensworth: “I understand that. But that’s how I saw it.”
Draper: “I can’t review the point, because I didn’t see it.”
Auger-Aliassime shakes hands with Draper to end the match
Alcaraz eliminated by Monfils; Rune, Zverev, Rublev all on the field
Rune also had to come from behind to beat Frenchman Gael Monfils with a score of 3-6 6-3 6-4.
World No. 46 Monfils had already completed his victory over Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz when their round of 32 match resumed.
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Highlights from the match between Holger Rune and Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open
Rain had forced the players to withdraw on Thursday night, with Alcaraz leading but trailing 3-1 in the second-set tie-break.
Monfils quickly came out of the blocks to level the contest, and then won the deciding match for a 4-6 7-6 (5) 6-4 triumph.
Third seed Alexander Zverev reached the quarterfinals with a 7-5 7-6 (6) victory over Spaniard Pablo Carrero Busta.
And Andrey Rublev had a comfortable passage to the last eight, defeating American Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (5) 6-1.
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