Benoit Paire's crowd taunt backfires in spectacular fashion in fifth-set tiebreak choke against Marin Cilic
French 21st seed Benoit Paire has been left to regret taunting the fans of his opponent Marin Cilic after choking in a fifth set tiebreak to the former Aus Open finalist.
The 2014 US Open champion took down Paire in a super-tiebreaker, 6-2 6-7 (8-6) 3-6 6-1 7-6 (10-3), in front of a raucous court-three crowd during the three-hour, 33-minute match.
With the match placed on a knife's edge at 4-3 in the deciding set, the fiery Frenchman complained to the chair umpire about the noise of the Cilic's supporters.
After he held his serve to close out the game, Paire turned to the crowd and made a gesture cupping his ears to suggest that the crowd was not loud enough.
Cilic was fired up after prevailing in the absorbing encounter against the 21st seed Getty
However, after the two couldn't be split in the fifth set, Cilic turned up the heat in the super tiebreaker.
Cilic, the world No.39, will face Spain's ninth seed Roberto Bautista Agut or American wildcard Michael Mmoh in the third round.
Earlier, Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas progressed after Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew from their scheduled second-round clash.
The 36-year-old German defeated American Marcos Giron in straight sets in the first round but suffered a muscle strain and was unable to face the No.6 seed and 2019 Melbourne Park semi-finalist.
Paire had to be calmed down by the chair umpire after complaining of the crowd noise Getty
Tsitsipas will face big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic next.
Seven-time Open champion Novak Djokovic steamrolled Japanese wildcard Tatsuma Ito 6-1 6-4 6-2 in an hour and 35 minutes.
Argentina's 14th seed Diego Schwartzman made light work of Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, keeping him on track for a fourth-round clash with Djokovic.
Italian teen Jannik Sinner couldn't back up his first-round win against Australian qualifer Max Purcell, losing in straight sets to Hungary's Marton Fucsovics.
Argentina's 22nd seed Guido Pella and American world No.45 Sam Querrey both took four sets to win their respective matches.
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