WATCH: Stefanos Tsitsipas tells Cincy fan to buzz off

James Richardson
Stefanos Tsitsipas ATP Tour
Stefanos Tsitsipas reacts after a point.

Stefanos Tsitsipas had to take a strange complaint to the chair umpire during his match against Ben Shelton.

Tsitsipas was first seen batting away some sort of insect before setting to serve in his victory over Shelton but he wouldn’t deliver and walked towards the chair umpire.

The Greek No 1 complained that there was a fan making a buzzing noise to imitate a bee and put him off while he was serving.

After asking fans who it was that was making the noise, Tsitsipas asked for a lady seated behind him be ejected.

The chair umpire asked Tsitsipas: “Do you know who it is?”

Tsitipas replied: “It has never happened in my career. I know they’re supporting the [other player].”

Shelton would then come over and asked his opponent: “What’s happened? Are they speaking to you?”

Tsitipas replied: “No they’re imitating a bee. They’re buzzing. Bzzzz.”

Having discovered the culprit he demanded: “It’s the lady over there. I want her out. She needs to go.”

The umpire managed to smooth things over with the fan apologising to Tsitsipas and the match continuing.

On the lightning-quick courts of Cincinnati on Wednesday,  Tsitsipas and Shelton were well-matched in a sharp-serving battle.

At the Western & Southern Open, it was the fourth-seeded Tsitsipas who ultimately improved lifted his performance in two tie-breaks to secure a gruelling 7-6 (3), 7-6(2) triumph. The Greek defeated his young opponent by using experience to his advantage and maintaining consistency towards the business end of both sets to complete a one-hour, 43-minute victory.

“He’s still relatively young and he has that free spirit in the way he approaches his game,” said Tsitsipas. “It came down to two tiebreakers and I was very confident if I made a few returns back and got him to rally a bit, things might go my way, and it ended up so. I was tough, for sure. I was tough as nails, and that gave me the win today.”

Neither player was able to generate a single break point across the two sets.

“Most of my service games, I felt like had that flow, that rhythm that I was seeking from the very beginning of the match,” said Tsitsipas.

“It sort of progressed more and more. I’m happy with how I handled the rallies that I got to play after serving… He hits big, can serve big, so with these kinds of players you have to be 100 per cent there. There isn’t much of a gap that you can give them.”

Hubert Hurkacz ended Borna Coric’s title defence in Ohio and lies in wait next up for Tsitsipas.

READ MORE: What racket does Stefanos Tsitsipas use?

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