France's Anthony Dupuis ousted top-seeded Australian Andrew Ilie (3-6, 7-6, 7-6) in a controversy-filled first-round match in the US Men's Clay Court Championships Tuesday night.
Ilie, who has a 10-match winning streak, wasted four match points, converting only one of 15 break-point opportunities and lost the match without dropping his own serve once.
The turning point for Ilie was a confrontation with Dupuis early in the second set complaining throughout about Dupuis' slow play and at one point calling out to the crowd, "I could go to the bathroom and be back before he's ready."
Between games the Frenchman approached Ilie's chair, the Australian stood up, and the two stood nose-to-nose in a heated discussion.
Ilie claimed Dupuis threatened him.
"He told me he was going to kill me after the match. He threatened me three or four times. The umpire was right there and didn't give him a warning. He should have been defaulted right then and there," said Ilie, who admitted that the incident affected his play and that he was really shaken up by what happened saying he was going to ask for a suspension or a very big fine.
In his defense, Dupuis denied that he had threatened to kill Ilie, but said that he was upset by Ilie's taunting, saying that he only wanted to take him behind the grandstand and talk to him about it.
In other matches, third-seeded Italian Gianluca Pozzi beat German Alexander Popp (6-3, 6-2), fourth-seeded Australian Jason Stoltenberg defeated Spanish Alex Moron-Lopez (6-1, 6-4) and Belgium's Xavier Malisse beat India's Leander Paes 6-3, 6-2) -- (Agencies).
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