Auckland–
A sunny day here at the ASB Classic saw no repeat of the lengthy rain delays on day two. Both first-round and second-round matches went underway as planned. Top seed Fabio Fognini crashed out in the second round to Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in a close three-setter 4-6 6-3 6-4.
However, there was controversy in the match as Feliciano Lopez was told by the chair umpire late in the first set that he could not challenge the ball from Fognini because it was too late. Lopez responded angrily and was given a warning for verbal abuse after raising his voice to the umpire during their long exchange.
“Clearly it was a mistake, everyone makes mistakes, I do, everybody does… If I challenge, it’s because the ball is close, so he has to give me the challenge on the baseline, instead of the one that went out.” said the Spaniard after the match. “I think umpires make a mistake sometimes and he made a mistake to be honest… It’s nonsense, why am I going to challenge a ball where there is no chance to be good, the ball is so far out.”
The ASB Classic continues tomorrow with quarterfinals day starting at 12pm local time.
Results at a glance
Second round
Feliciano Lopez d. Fabio Fognini 3-6 6-4 6-3
Hubert Hurkacz d. Mikael Ymer 6-2 7-6
Benoit Paire d. Thiago Monteiro 4-6 6-4 6-3
Kyle Edmund d. Andreas Seppi 6-3 7-6
John Isner d. Tennys Sandgren 7-6 6-7 6-3
Ugo Humbert d. Marco Cecchinato 6-1 6-4
Denis Shapovalov d. Vasek Pospisil 6-4 7-6
John Millman d. Karen Khachanov 4-6 6-3 6-3
First round
Feliciano Lopez d. Pablo Andujar 3-6 7-6 6-4
Andreas Seppi d. Adrian Mannarino 3-6 6-4 6-4
Marco Cecchinato d. Leonardo Mayer 7-6 6-7 7-6
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
