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Russia’s Andrey Rublev was defaulted from the Dubai ATP tournament for allegedly using obscene language in an angry tirade at a line umpire yesterday, gifting Alexander Bublik a place in the final.

Most of the deciding set was dominated by arguments occurring between Bublik and chair umpire Miriam Bley over the timing of the introduction of new balls.

However, it was world No 5 Rublev who lost his cool at 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-5, yelling towards the official, who claimed the second seed swore at him in Russian. Rublev insisted he was speaking in English and that he did not use any foul language but the line umpire stuck to his story and the 26-year-old was defaulted from the match. Bublik tried to convince Bley and ATP supervisor Roland Herfel to continue play but the call was made and the match was over.  — SuperSport.