Daniil Medvedev lost his temper for the second day running at the Monte Carlo Masters, yelling at the umpire to “open your freaking eyes” as he lost in the last 16 to Karen Khachanov.
His fellow Russian earned a 6-3 7-5 victory to move into the quarter-finals for the first time.
But it was Medvedev who drew all the attention, losing his cool in the 10th game of the second set as he launched his racquet into the back wall and unleashed another tirade at the umpire, which resulted in a point penalty.
After missing a set point at 5-4 up in the second set, the world No. 4 began to unravel and a disputed line call proved to be the final straw, with a bespectacled line judge a target of his anger.
“Who will take action? Yesterday the ball is out. It’s called in. This ball is out there. Who will take responsibility?” asked Medvedev during his match on Thursday.
“It’s not my responsibility to referee the matches. It’s this guy in the glasses. He doesn’t need glasses because he doesn’t see anything.”
He added: “Open your eyes. Open your freaking eyes. Do something. It’s out.”
Khachanov was able to block out the theatrics of his fellow countryman, refusing to drop a game from that point on.
“Mentally, even though I’ve lost a few hard matches to him on hard courts, I know he doesn’t like to play on clay and that gives me some extra confidence,” Khachanov said afterwards.
“Sometimes I know Daniil can lose his mind. Sometimes he uses it as a tool, but it can get out of control sometimes. I tried not to look at him or focus on him, and just serve it out.”
Khachanov will face fifth seed Alexander Zverev or No. 12 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas next for a place in the semi-finals.
Alex de Minaur also made it to the last eight, beating fellow Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-3 6-4.
The 11th seed will face Novak Djokovic or Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals.