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Kyrgios fumes at 'biased as s**t' chair umpire

Nick Kyrgios has lost his temper at the Marseille Open, accusing officials of bias towards Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Kyrgios had his serve broken at 5-4 serving for the first set and went down 7-5 in the eventual tie breaker.

The fiery Aussie was left fuming after he was refused a challenge on a Tsonga serve when the chair umpire ruled he was too late in making the call for a referral.

"I've seen referees wait 5-6 seconds after the ball's gone out," Kyrgios said.

Kyrgios v umpire. Image: Fox Sports

"For them it's ok but when I do it once it's not ok.

"You guys are biased as s**t."

The infamously temperamental Australian was the defending champion and rampaged back to claim the second set 6-2, but a fully determined Tsonga won out with a 6-4 final set.

Tsonga claimed his first title since 2015 last week in Rotterdam and maintained his streak of hot form in the face of typically inspired play by the unpredictable Kyrgios.

His victory set up an all-French final on Sunday against Lucas Pouille, who beat another Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-5 6-3 in the other last-four match.

Defending rankings points from winning at Marseille last year, Kyrgios is expected to slip from his current ranking of 16 - a marker he'd undoubtedly like to stay inside for the French Open in May to avoid playing anyone rated higher until at least round four in Paris.

It was Kyrgios's first ATP tournament since his disappointing second round exit at the Australian Open.

with AFP