Arthur Fils did not need to dip into his resources too much to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 tournament in Lyon. The 18-year-old Frenchman took advantage of his opponent Mikaël Ymer’s freakout on Wednesday, which considerably shortened the game.
The incident happened late in the game which gave Fils a 6-5 lead in the first set. The 24-year-old Swede (53rd in the world) smashed his racket against the referee’s chair, badly damaged by the blow, which earned him a disqualification.
During the previous play, Ymer had disputed for more than three minutes the validity of a ball from Arthur Fils on the line. Richard Gasquet’s scorer in the first round obviously couldn’t stand the referee not coming down to check the mark and let him know soon after, in a reprehensible way.
Son expected at Roland-Garros
Invited to the tournament, Fils (19) now has an appointment with the winner of the duel between the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime (seeded number 1) and the Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz. Good preparation before the Roland-Garros tournament next week, for which the finalist of the junior edition in 2021 benefits from a wild card.