Alexander Zverev has been “removed” from singles at the Mexican Open in Acapulco for hitting the referee’s chair with his racket after the defeat in his doubles match.

The German and Marcelo Melo fell in the third-set tiebreaker to Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 6-2, 4-6, 10-6, but a previous failure sparked anger.

A return of service from the Brazilian was marked as “bad” by a line judge, although the umpire overturned the decision and allowed the rival duo to go 9-6 up in that decisive chapter.

When the pairs shook hands in the salute in the net, Zverev approached the referee’s chair and hit it on three occasions. Then, he yelled at her that he had destroyed all the. match”, before hitting the chair once again.

Zverev was due to face Peter Gojowczyk in the second round of singles, but the ATP Tour confirmed that the second seed in Acapulco was eliminated from the singles.

“Due to unsportsmanlike conduct at the conclusion of his doubles match on Tuesday night, Alexander Zverev was suspended from the tournament in Acapulco,” they reported.