Two-time violation incidents have now marred the Rolex Shanghai Masters involving Frances Tiafoe yesterday (Tuesday) and Stefanos Tsitsipas today (Wednesday). It was very tough. He played only first serves, except one second serve Jannik SinnerTiafoe, the 13th seed, was attempting to reach the last 16 but was beaten by Roman Safiullin, the unseeded Russian 5-7 7-5 7-6(5) in a an extremely tight contest as the scoreline indicates.However, at 5-5 in the decider, umpire Jimmy Pinoargote penalised him for taking too long to serve which obviously didn’t go down well and, when he was finally defeated, he couldn’t contain his frustrations. He refused to shake the umpire’s hand and as he stormed off, he launched a string of abuse – some 13 F bombs – no doubt aimed at the umpire.The American could now face a fine of up to £46,000 for verbal abuse, with the ATP rulebook stating: “Players shall not at any time directly or indirectly verbally abuse an official, opponent, sponsor, spectator or any other person within the precincts of the tournament site.”Tiafoe has subsequently said sorry for his actions, writing on Instagram: “I really apologise for the way I acted.“That is not who I am and not how I want to treat people.”Twenty-four hours later it was Tsitsipas’ turn to be upset by an the Greek, seeded 10, by an umpire, in his case Fergus Murphy, as he crashed out of the event at the hands of Daniil Medvedev, 7-6(3) 6-3.The Greek, seeded 10, received his time violation penalty at 2-2 in the second set and took immediate issue with umpire Murphy, accusing him of being treated unfairly and demanded to speak to the Tournament Supervisor.In an attempt to mollify Tsitsipas, Murphy explained: “It might help if you listen. The clock starts automatically so you really have to keep watching the clock. I have no control over that.”But Tsitsipas was in no mood to be mollified.“Why are you guys against me suddenly, I don’t understand?” he declared. “The last few months have been terrible. I don’t understand what got into you.”Murphy replied: “That’s not a correct statement, I’m not against you. I’m not against anybody.”Still very unhappy with the situation, Tsitsipas refused to play on and insisted on speaking to the Tournament Supervisor before continuing with the match.“Tennis is a physical sport, and we need some time over there,” he added.“You have to show some compassion, because you aren’t showing any compassion. It’s a physical sport, we’re not throwing darts out here.“If it’s going to be unfair, I need to talk to the supervisor. You seem like you have no idea what you’re doing.”He did speak to the Supervisor and eventually, after a four-minute delay, resumed the match against the 5th seeded Russian who went on to claim a place in the quarter finals after one-hour, 50-minutes to face Jannik Sinner for a fifth time this year. Currently Medvedev leads the Italian 7-6 in career terms but in their last meeting at the US Open, Sinner defeated him in the quarter finals in four sets.The top seeded Sinner reached the last eight by spoiling Ben Shelton’s 22nd birthday, eliminating the American 6-4 7-6(1) after 68-minutes.It will be Sinner’s seventh appearance this season at this stage of a Masters event, last achieved by Alexander Zverev six years ago.“It was very tough. He played only first serves, except one second serve,” Sinner said.“I tried to wait a little bit. Obviously, playing against him, even if it’s a second serve, it’s very tough to return.“But if I look at the positive picture, how I ended the match, I tried to stay a bit more aggressive, which I’ve done, and this hopefully can give me confidence for the next round.”It certainly wasn’t an easy match for the Italian as Shelton serves tested Sinner throughout the encounter. However the American failed to convert seven break chances which came his way and lost the only one he offered his opponent, losing his serve crucially in the ninth game!Shelton, seeded 14, kept up the pressure in the second set but just couldn’t pierce his opponent’s defences and in the ensuing tiebreak, was swept aside scoring just one point. Carlos Alcaraz celebrates another win(Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)It all augurs well for another Sinner vs Carlos Alcaraz blockbuster which now is only one match away after the Spaniard joined him in the last eight following a 6-4 7-5 win over the French veteran Gael Monfils in just 87-minutes.Alcaraz and Sinner have been involved in some classic matches this season, most recently last week’s Chin Open in Beijing, won by the Spaniard who is on a 12-match winning streak and is chasing his fifth title of the season.“It’s always on your mind. Every tournament I go to, I want to go further and that means I’m going to play the best players in the world,” Alcaraz said after his win and the possibility of facing his rival in a few days’ time.“Obviously it’s a great goal to reach the semi-final. Let’s see if he’s going to make it as well.“I’ve seen his matches before mine, he’s playing at a great level. Watching great matches before mine helped me a lot to put a good show when I step on the court.”And commenting on his most recent win which avenged his loss to Monfils in Cincinnati, added: “The main thing I tried was to stay calm, control my emotions and just wait for my chances.“I had a few opportunities to break at the beginning of the second set, and I couldn’t make it, but I tried to stay calm and think I’m going to have more during the set.“I tried to stay as calm as I could during the match and that helped me a lot to show my best tennis. I’m feeling the ball really well, much more than I was in the American swing.“Hopefully I can keep going.” Novak Djokovic is chasing his 100th title (Photo by Zhe Ji/Getty Images)And keeping up with the two youngsters is the 37-year-old four-time champion of the event, Novak Djokovic, chasing his 100th title to join the only other two players to have reached that landmark, Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors.The Serbian swept past Russian Roman Safiullin 6-3 6-2 to set up a meeting with the Czech teenager Jakub Mensik, a 6-3 3-6 6-4 winner over the 9th seeded Grigor Dimitrov, one of two upsets in round four.And Djokovic, with only the Olympic singles title to his name this season, is happy with his current performance following his early loss at the US Open.“The [past two matches] are some of the best matches I’ve played in a while,” he said.“I’m enjoying myself on the court and when you play well you are feeling good, there is a lot of joy in striking a tennis ball.“These matches and sensations are the reasons why I still play.“I believe I can play at a high level and it’s about keeping that consistency.” David Goffin ousts the second seed(Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)Closing the day’s schedule, Alexander Zverev, the second seed, crashed out of the competition, defeated by Belgian David Goffin, 6-4 7-5.Goffin, 33 and a former top ten player currently ranked at 66, reached the last eight of a Masters event for the first time since 2021, has competed mostly on the Challenger circuit these past two years so he is delighted at having found the form which had him playing at the top of the Tour.“Sometimes you have doubts about your fitness and your head. If you’re not 100 per cent there, mentally, it’s tough to compete with those guys – the level is so high. I have put a lot of hard work in [over] the past few months and there is no [surprise] the tennis came back and I am really happy to be back again in the quarter-finals of an ATP Masters 1000.”Goffin, who was hampered by injuries following the 2021 US Open, has shown glimpses of his best tennis over the past few months when he made the semi-finals at Winston Salem and made the third round at Flushing Meadows,“I have built confidence from the”
