WATCH: Jaume Munar defeats Thanasi Kokkinakis in heated match

Tennis Videos

Ryan Jarvis
April 27, 2023

Jaume Munar advances in the Madrid Open after defeating Australian star Thanasi Kokkinakis in what ended up being a very heated match.

The pair faced off in the round of 128 yesterday. It was the first time the foes had ever encountered one another in their professional careers.

Munar came into the fixture looking very promising, having won four out of his last seven matches on the clay court. His last result saw him receive a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 loss in Monte Carlo to fifth seed Andrey Rublev.

Despite coming off of a loss, the Spaniard was certainly favoured to win. His opponent Kokkinakis last played on clay in May last year. This made it a very unpredictable match for the player, who had no clay experience this season.

The pair clashed for a heated two hours and 38 minutes before the Spanish star was able to claim a 6-7 (7-9), 6-7 (3-7) win over his 27-year-old opponent.

The stars produced some exciting tennis, with some robust efforts that were incredible to behold.

The match saw some vulgar moments unfold, with both players trading verbal blows.

During the first set tie-break, Kokkinakis told the umpire about Munar repeatedly talking to his coach, who had been sitting courtside. The Spaniard tried to extinguish the negative comments that Kokkinakis was spewing to the chair umpire.

Kokkinakis was not impressed by the Spaniard’s interjection, resulting in him shouting at Munar, saying, “Bro, you don’t shut up.”

He then told the match official, “I just thought it was rich for him to complain about talking because he’s done the same thing the whole time.” This surely would have given Munar the aggression to motivate himself to win.

The end of their match saw a heated moment spark off between the players at the handshake; thankfully, the net was in the way because it certainly could have gotten worse.

Jaume Munar confronted his Australian opponent saying, “Don’t tell me to shut up again.,” to which Kokkinakis responded with an arrogant, “Or what?”

The pair spoke for almost two minutes before the umpire interjected, resulting in a slightly cool second handshake between the stars.

Munar is set to face 30th seed Tallon Griekspoor in the round of 64 tomorrow. The Dutch star has had a difficult clay court season, having won one of his last four matches on the surface. His last fixture saw him receive a narrow 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (4-7) defeat to Australian Alexei Popyrin in the Banja Luka Open.

An exciting fixture awaits us, that will hopefully be a lot calmer than Munar’s last one.

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Jaume Munar Thanasi Kokkinakis