Federer frustrates rival into hilarious on-court mishap

Roger Federer’s latest US Open victim found himself at the centre of an embarrassing on-court mishap after being left painfully frustrated by the Swiss star’s brilliance.

Federer set up a third round clash against Nick Kyrgios after the Aussie found himself at the centre of firestorm over a chair umpire’s bizarre mid-match pep talk.

Second seed and five-time champion Federer made it 18 wins in 18 second round appearances in New York by seeing off error-plagued Frenchman Benoit Paire 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

At no point were those errors by Paire more painful than in the second set when he gifted Federer a long rally by blasting his attempted backhand pass inexplicably long.

Federer was already up 7-5 4-3 at the time and the frustrations for Paire had clearly exceeded tipping point.

The fiery Frenchman reacted to his error by slamming his racquet onto the playing surface at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

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But in a hilarious moment for spectators, the racquet bounced up wickedly off the court and collected Paire in the face before he had time to react.

Federer, 37, will now take a 2-1 career lead over the combustible Kyrgios into their Saturday duel with all three of the pair’s encounters having gone to three sets.

Kyrgios, 23, reached the third round by seeing off France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 6-0.

However, the match sparked a huge row after respected umpire Mohamed Lahyani lost patience with the under-performing 30th seed and climbed down from his chair to tell the Australian to try harder.

“I want to help you,” Lahyani could be heard saying.

“This isn’t you. I know that. You are great for tennis.”

Herbert said that Lahyani had over-stepped the mark.

“The umpire doesn’t have to talk to him at all. The only thing he can tell him is pay attention, because if you continue like this, I’m going to give you a warning,” said the 27-year-old,

“They can tell him from the chair. He doesn’t need to go down. He doesn’t need to say the words he said on the video. That is not his job. I don’t think he’s a coach, he’s an umpire.”

Kyrgios played down the incident.

“He said he liked me. I’m not sure if that was encouragement,” said the Australian who won 19 of the last 25 games following Lahyani’s unprecedented intervention.

“He just said that it’s not a good look. I know what I was doing out there wasn’t good.”

– Two-point penalty –

US Open chiefs didn’t help the matter by claiming Lahyani was forced to step from his chair as the crowd noise meant that Kyrgios could not hear him.

“Lahyani was concerned that Kyrgios might need medical attention,” said tournament referee Brian Earley.

“He also informed Kyrgios that if his seeming lack of interest in the match continued, that as the chair umpire, he would need to take action.”

German third seed Alexander Zverev made the third round for the first time in four tries after a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory over French lucky loser Nicolas Mahut.

“I’m doing a lot of stuff different. I don’t go out at all,” said the 21-year-old who will next face compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic will later attempt to book his third round place when he opens the night session against Tennys Sandgren of the United States.

Two-time US Open champion Djokovic beat Sandgren in straight sets in the first round at Wimbledon last month.

With AFP