Benoit Paire's hilarious mid-point racquet fail

It's pretty hard to return the ball when your racquet handle snaps in half mid-point, as Benoit Paire found out the hard way.

Paire was taking on Borna Coric in Dubai on Wednesday when the bizarre moment occurred.

The Frenchman clean-missed what would otherwise have been a fairly easy return of serve, looking down at his racquet in bewilderment.

He discovered that the handle had snapped in half as he was swinging, leaving him rather short-changed.

Coric went on to win 6-1 6-4.

The racquet incident left Paire with a smile on his face, much like this stunning point he took part in at the Australian Open in January:

Meanwhile, Lucas Pouille overcame Karen Khachanov 6-4 3-6 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals and avenge his defeat by the Russian in last weekend's final in Marseille.

The second seed served seven aces and converted three break points to prevail in an hour and 39 minutes.

Up next for the Frenchman is a first career meeting with Yuichi Sugita, who beat Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(4) 6-4.

"I knew it would be a tough one," Pouille, who won the Montpellier title earlier this month, said.

"In the final in Marseille, he won just three points more than me. I knew it was very close. I had to play some good tennis... I'm just very happy that I got my revenge today."

Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut, seeded third, also reached the quarter-final after a 6-4 6-7(2) 6-1 victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert in windy conditions.

with agencies