Stefanos Tsitsipas calls for tennis fan to be kicked out in bizarre 'bee noise' drama

Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas tried to have a female fan ejected at the Cincinnati Masters after accusing her of deliberately making bee noises in an attempt to distract him. The truly bizarre scenes came during the World No.4's 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) win over local hope Ben Shelton.

Tsitsipas cruised into the round of 16 at the American hardcourt event, with his straight sets victory over Shelton setting up date with Polish star Hubert Hurkacz in the next round. On the surface, it appeared to be a straightforward win for the fourth seed but a wild incident in the second set left viewers baffled and Tsitsipas seething.

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The 25-year-old could be seen trying to swat away what he thought must have been a small insect flying near his face as he attempted to serve. Tsitsipas waved his racquet aroud in frustration, before regaining his composure to have another crack at serving.

Stefanos Tsitsipas seen interrogating spectators

He paused another time, before walking over to confront the chair umpire after realising the 'buzzing' noise he was hearing was coming from someone in the crowd. “There’s a person imitating a bee behind me," he could be heard complaining to the chair umpire.

“It’s a buzz right before I serve. Do you think that’s okay?” The Greek star then took matters into his own hands after walking up to a group of spectators sitting in the section where the noise was apparently coming from.

He appeared to interview a number of spectators in the crowd to try and identify the culprit behind the bee noises, before returning to the chair umpire to vent his frustrations. “It has never happened in my career,” he snapped.

“I know they’re supporting (Shelton). It’s the lady over there, I want her out. She needs to go.” A female spectator could be seen apologising to Tsitsipas before play resumed, with the World No.4 ultimately able to brush aside the drama and seal a comfortable victory.

Mixed day for Aussie stars in Cincinnati

In other men's action, Alex de Minaur has suffered a brutal 7-5 6-4 loss to Gael Monfils in the second round, but fellow Aussie Max Purcell shocked World No.7 Casper Ruud in a major boilover. In just his third career match against a top-10 player, Purcell produced an incredible 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory over an opponent who has reached three of the last six grand slam finals.

The day's second big shock came with a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) win for Serbia's Dusan Lajovic over world No.6 Jannik Sinner. The Italian earned his first Masters 1000 title days ago in Toronto after beating De Minaur in the final, but failed to convert any of the five break point chances in the match against Lajovic.

Former champion Daniil Medvedev beat Italy's Lorenzo Musetti 6-3 6-2 in an error-riddled match. There were also victories for Americans Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz, who defeated Ugo Humbert and Lorenzo Sonego respectively.

with agencies

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