Italian eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti was fortunate not to be disqualified from the French Open after kicking a ball at a line judge during his quarter-final victory over Frances Tiafoe.
In the second set of his 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-2 victory, Musetti booted the ball in frustration and it hit the woman – standing about three metres away – in the chest. Tiafoe looked stunned at the other end of the court and gestured towards the umpire, who eventually gave Musetti a code violation.
Tiafoe, the 15th seed, said: “I mean, obviously he did that and nothing happened. I think that’s comical, but it is what it is. Nothing happened, so there’s nothing really to talk about. Obviously it’s not consistent, so it is what it is.”
Musetti, who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year and is through to the last four at Roland Garros for the first time, said: “Yeah, I was a little bit, honestly, scared, because I really didn’t want to harm nobody, of course.
“So I immediately went to the line umpire, and I of course said ‘sorry’, I apologise to everyone. It was right to have a warning, but I think the umpire saw that there was no intention about that, and that’s why probably just, you know, let me continue my game.”
The French Open is the only one of the four Grand Slams to still use line judges rather than electronic line calling.
Lorenzo Musetti reached his first semi-final at the French Open
Former British No 1 Tim Henman, part of TNT Sports and Eurosport’s coverage of Roland Garros, said: “By the letter of the law, if you hit or kick a ball away in frustration and it hits a ball boy, line judge, or umpire, that can be a disqualification.
“When you look at that, the umpire could have interpreted that as a disqualification. However, if Musetti was disqualified for that, Musetti would feel very unlucky and aggrieved.
“When you’re kicking a ball away, you’ve either got to be a better footballer and kick it in the right direction, or you are risking something like that.”
Alcaraz thrashes Paul to book Musetti semi-final
Musetti will meet defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who steamrollered American 12th seed Tommy Paul 6-0 6-1 6-4 in another one-sided night match.
“I’m sorry you wanted to watch more tennis. I had to do my work,” Alcaraz told the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd afterwards.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz is through to the semi-finals for the third consecutive year
Paul had his right thigh heavily taped and was unable to run, serve or hit groundstrokes at full force, seeing Alcaraz just 52 minutes to collect the first two sets. The 22-year-old Spaniard compiled a 23-5 edge in winners in that span, and the final totals were 40-13.
Things got more competitive in the third set, which Paul led 4-3 as some spectators at Court Philippe-Chatrier chanted his first name. But Alcaraz grabbed the next three games to wrap things up after a little over 90 minutes.
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