Jack Draper secured a place in the last eight of the Cincinnati Open when he came from behind to defeat Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 after a controversial match point.
It was Draper’s third three-set win in a row. In the quarterfinals he will face Danish player and number 15 seed Holger Rune.
Auger-Aliassime had already beaten seventh seed Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-1 earlier in the day after they were unable to take to the court on Thursday evening due to rain, but he showed no signs of fatigue in the first set, capitalising on his only break point in the 12th game.
This was the Canadian’s only break point of the entire match, but Draper fought back and took the win.
The match ended controversially: Auger-Aliassime argued that the ball first hit the frame of Draper’s racket on match point and then fell to the ground, from where it flew in a loop onto the net cable and flew over it.
The players argued at length with the referee while the crowd demanded a replay, but the decision remained.
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After his controversial victory over Felix Auger Aliassime, Jack Draper said he “would have 100% repeated the point” if his manager had asked him to.
After the match, Draper stressed that he would have repeated the point “100 percent” if a tournament director had asked him to, but he was not clear about what had happened.
“I was serving and he hit an incredible pass at my feet. I was shocked by the pass and too busy looking at it. I didn’t see what happened,” Draper said.
“I immediately looked at the referee to see if he called a double rebound or not. As a player, I try to focus on what I’m doing – I can’t make that decision. When the supervisor came in, I said if you had said it was a double rebound and he had seen it clearly, I would have replayed the point 100 percent.
“I’ve had to do the right thing many times over the last 12 months… we’ve had a long battle out here and it would be extremely unfair to Felix if the game was won this way. I couldn’t make that decision myself.”
How the match point controversy developed
Draper is in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open, but only after a highly controversial match point against Auger-Aliassime
On match point, Draper hits a volley from the frame of his racket into the ground, which bounces onto the net cord and into Auger-Aliassime’s side.
Referee Gregory Allensworth: “Ladies and gentlemen, I rule that was a fair shot. Game, set and match, Draper.”
Cloth maker: “I would repeat it (the point). If there was a repeat, I would repeat it, but I don’t know.”
Auger-Aliassime: “Jack, you know…”
Cloth maker: “I didn’t look at the floor. But I didn’t look. If there was a repeat…”
Auger-Aliassime to Allensworth: “What you just did is horrible. Didn’t you see the ball hit the ground?”
Allensworth: “It jumped off the string and fell over?”
Auger-Aliassime: “No, no, no. Like on the floor?”
Allensworth: “As if he had hit it?”
Auger-Aliassime: “He threw it on the ground, what do you think?”
Allensworth: “I didn’t see that.”
Auger-Aliassime: “He threw it on the ground.”
Allensworth: “I didn’t see that. I saw it come out of the frame and fall over it.”
Auger-Aliassime: “You’re going to walk out (of the court) now and it’s going to be everywhere. And it’s going to look ridiculous. I mean it, it’s going to look ridiculous. It’s going to be crazy and I know it’s not his (Draper’s) job to make that decision, it’s match point for him, it’s victory for him, but it’s your job to make that decision.”
Cloth maker: “Felix, can I tell you something? I looked at you.”
Auger-Aliassime: “It doesn’t matter where you looked. You’ve played enough to know where the ball is going when you hit it. It’s up to you (Allensworth) to decide that. Are you seriously not going to go back on your decision?”
Allensworth: “That’s how I saw it.”
*The crowd shouts “Repeat.”*
Cloth maker: “I don’t know, I watched him (Auger-Aliassime). It’s your (Allensworth) decision.”
Allensworth: “Yes, no, I saw it. You got it.”
Auger-Aliassime calls superiors to court
Allensworth: “It’s a discretionary decision, but yes, we can talk about it.”
Cloth maker: “That’s why I asked for the replay. That’s why I talked about the replay earlier. I might look like an idiot now because people will say I’m not fair. But I looked at him.”
Allensworth to the supervisor: “So I decided that the ball bounced and was hit over the net by the frame. In my opinion, that’s a completely fair hit, so it’s game, set and match.”
Draper to his boss: “How did you see that?”
Supervision: “I looked from behind. I can’t tell you. It’s impossible from behind.”
Cloth maker: “Okay, you were watching from behind, but if you told me the ball hit the ground, I would replay the point. I would replay the point, but I don’t know. That’s why I talked about replaying earlier. Felix, if he tells me now that the ball hit the ground, and he saw it on TV, I would replay the point.”
Auger-Aliassime: “For me, that’s the best scenario.”
Supervision: “No, we cannot replay the point. He (referee Allensworth) has to make the decision and only you (Draper) can take the point back.”
Cloth maker: “But I didn’t see it, so I don’t know. I didn’t see it, Felix.”
Supervision: “So that’s his (Allensworth’s) decision.”
Auger-Aliassime: “Look, I’m going to ask you (Allensworth) one last time if you’re 100 percent sure you’re not going to walk away from here and if you have no doubt, not the slightest doubt, that that was a clean volley winner. And if you tell me yes, I’m going to shake his (Draper) hand and the game is over.”
Allensworth: “I just have to say it the way I saw it, Felix. That’s who I am and that’s how I saw it. If I had any doubts, 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 right now, I can’t go back and watch it.”
Auger-Aliassime: “Yes, but then it will be too late.”
Allensworth: “I understand that. But that’s how I saw it.”
Cloth maker: “I can’t repeat the point because I didn’t see it.”
Auger-Aliassime shakes Draper’s hand and ends the match
Alcaraz is eliminated by Monfils, Rune, Zverev and Rublev
Rune also had to come from behind to beat Frenchman Gael Monfils 3:6, 6:3, 6:4.
Monfils, ranked 46th in the world, had previously defeated Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz when play in the round of 32 resumed.
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Highlights of the match between Holger Rune and Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open
Rain forced the players to withdraw on Thursday evening when Alcaraz was leading by one set but was trailing 1-3 in the second set tiebreak.
Monfils came out of the starting blocks quickly and equalized the match, and then took the deciding set to win 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Third-seeded Alexander Zverev reached the quarterfinals with a 7:5, 7:6 (6) victory over Spaniard Pablo Carrero Busta.
And Andrey Rublev made it into the quarterfinals with ease, defeating American Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (5), 6-1.
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