Alejandro Davidovich Fokina continued his impressive run at the Washington Open after beating Ben Shelton, but there was a moment of contention during the match.
Davidovich Fokina has now beaten American number one Taylor Fritz and Shelton in back-to-back matches.
This is now the third time that the Spaniard has beaten Shelton, who had just defeated Frances Tiafoe in his own quarterfinal match.
While the match was generally good natured, there was a moment of contention that Shelton was clearly not happy about.
Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty ImagesAlejandro Davidovich Fokina gives his verdict on Ben Shelton’s complaint
After Davidovich Fokina won the first set, 6-2, Shelton knew that he needed to win the second if he wanted to stay in the match.
The second set was much more tightly contested, with Shelton serving at 5-5 15-15.
However, at this point Shelton hit a serve that he appeared to believe was a let, but the umpire did not call anything and he missed the subsequent smash.
Shelton went on to get broken in that game and lose the match, and now Davidovich Fokina has given his verdict on the decision.
When speaking in his post-match press conference, Davidovich Fokina revealed that he knew it was a let and had initially stopped before Shelton’s overhead went astray.
“No, it was let, because I return and I stop, because was clearly let. And he stopped too. And the umpire didn’t say nothing, and we were, like — we continued the point, and he had the chance to smash it and win the point, but he miss it.
“But we both knew that it was let, and we continue playing. We didn’t stop. Then if he win the point, nothing happens at the end. The thing is I won it. He complained about that point, but nothing happened.”
This is not the first time that Shelton has disagreed with an umpire’s decision at the Washington Open this year, having also been left annoyed in his match against Gabriel Diallo.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina reveals his unusual preparation for the match vs Ben Shelton
Davidovich Fokina and Shelton finished their semifinal at 11:45pm in Washington D.C., but that was nothing compared to the quarterfinal match he played the day prior.
After overcoming the aforementioned Fritz in an over three-hour battle, Davidovich Fokina left the court just before 2am.
However, after undergoing media commitments and general post-match procedures, Davidovich Fokina has revealed that he actually did not go to sleep until 5am.
When explaining his routine ahead of his semifinal against Shelton, Davidovich Fokina revealed that he did not wake up until 1pm and actually went back to sleep later in the day.
“Well, after the match, I did massage one hour,” explained the world number 26. “After, we went with my team to the hotel. We had dinner, everyone in their rooms.
“I went to sleep at 5:00 a.m., and I woke up at 1:00, I think. We went to Starbucks to take a coffee. We did room service with my wife, and I went to sleep again. I woke up at, I don’t know. At 5:00 we took the shuttle to come here, and I prepared the match.”
Davidovich Fokina will be hoping to get a more conventional sleep before his final against Alex de Minaur, as he looks to win his first ATP title.