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Alexander Zverev reached his third Australian Open semi-final with a four-set win over American Tommy Paul but only after a farcical row with the umpire over a feather dropping onto the court.
The second seed, who is bidding for a first grand slam title, had lost both his previous two meetings against Paul but proved the stronger in the big moments to win 7-6 (1) 7-6 (0) 2-6 6-1.
But when a break down in the second set, trailing 4-2, Paul sent a serve down at deuce, but just as the rally developed a feather dropped onto the court before the German could strike a sliced backhand.
Umpire Forcadell called let and ordered the players to replay the point, sparking an angry response from Zverev.
He said: “What?! Because of what? Because of a feather? Are you insane? Because of a feather? I mean, what is this? Oh no. Buddy, it’s a feather. There’s millions of them on the court. There’s one there, there’s one there, there’s one there.”
Paul, seeded 12th, served for both the first and second sets but Zverev broke back on each occasion and played two excellent tie-breaks.
Paul threatened a comeback by taking the third set but Zverev hit back strongly and clinched victory on his third match point.
“I should have been down two sets to love,” said the German. “He played better than me, I was not playing great and I thought he was.
“I won the first set somehow, won the second set somehow. The fourth set was definitely the best I’ve played and I’m obviously extremely happy to be back in the semi-finals.”
