Daniil Medvedev nearly rallied after a wild scene broke out at the US Open on Sunday night.
But, even after he fought back to force a fifth set, Medvedev is headed home from the major championship early. France's Benjamin Bonzi survived a long battle to beat Medvedev 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 0-6, 6-4 in the opening round. It marked his second straight upset win over Medvedev in the first round of a grand slam.
It was late in the third set, when Bonzi nearly had the win in straight sets, when total chaos broke out on Sunday night. A photographer suddenly walked out onto the court right before Bonzi was about to serve for the match. It's not clear what the photographer was trying to do, but the official immediately started screaming at him to get off the court right before Bonzi was going to serve.
That led to a very long delay with fans constantly booing and throwing thumbs down while the official tried to regain control. Bonzi simply stood at his end of the court, ready to serve for the set point, while Medvedev ate it up at the other end. At one point, Medvedev actually walked up to the chair official and lit him up.
“He wants to go home guys, he doesn’t like to be here,” Medvedev screamed into the ESPN camera, talking about the official. “He gets paid by the match not by the hour.”
Eventually, almost seven minutes later, Bonzi finally served again. Medvedev took immediate advantage and stayed alive, too. The first serve back went right into the net, and Medvedev stayed alive before forcing the tiebreak. After dropping the first two, Medvedev won three straight points to get back out in front and eventually take the set.
The photographer was spotted being walked out of the arena after the third set.
"I never experienced something like that," Bonzi said on ESPN. "I don't know, [we waited maybe] five minutes before the next point. It was so difficult to play. It was so noisy ... I tried to stay calm, to stay in the match, but it was not easy."
Bonzi needed to take a long medical timeout in the fourth set due to an apparent issue with his right leg. He took that after falling down 3-0, and Medvedev quickly forced the fifth set without any issue.
Bonzi, down 40-0 in the seventh game, saved five break points to rally all the way back and take a 4-3 lead in the final set. That put Medvedev behind for the first time since the chaotic scene in the third set.
That was all Bonzi needed to get control of the match back. He quickly won the next two games to walk away with his win, it just came more than 90 minutes after he nearly closed it out the first time. Medvedev started smashing his racquet hard after the loss while sitting on his bench, too, as the crowd around him started to boo.
Bonzi beat Medvedev in the same round at Wimbledon in June, too. Medvedev has won just a single match in the four grand slams this season, too, just a year removed from his run to the quarterfinals at the US Open last fall.
Bonzi will now advance to take on Marcos Giron in the next round. Medvedev, meanwhile, will head home early once again as his struggles continue.
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