Belgium will be Australiaโs next opponents in the Davis Cup โ but only after battling through to the second qualifying round in the most bizarre and controversial circumstances.
The Belgiansโ home tie in Hasselt came to an unfortunate conclusion on Sunday when, with the hosts leading 2-1, Zizou Bergs accidentally knocked over and injured his Chilean opponent Cristian Garin while celebrating a key break of serve to go 6-5 ahead in the deciding set.
Bergs sprinted wildly towards the Belgian bench at the changeover, as he looked forward to serving for the match, but, looking towards his celebrating bench, he floored Garin, catching him in the eye with his shoulder as they both passed through the narrow space between the net and the umpireโs chair at the same time.
Bergs looked shocked and immediately apologised, but the dazed Garin needed medical treatment to his swollen eye and then refused to continue, with the Chilean camp calling for Bergs to be disqualified.
But instead, though Bergs was given a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct, it was Garin who was penalised with three consecutive time violations for not restarting, which led to a game penalty and Chile losing the set, the match โ 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 โ and the tie 3-1.
Garin, who was reported afterwards by Chileโs team doctor Alejandro Orizola to have been โin no conditionโ to continue, reportedly complained to experienced Portuguese umpire Carlos Ramos: โIf you are not going to default him, default me! You donโt have the guts to do it to me!โ
The Chilean team were left raging, railing at their opponentsโ bench as tensions heightened.
It may well be that there will be more repercussions about the incident because if Bergs had been disqualified, as the Chileans wanted, the tie would have come down to a decider featuring their star man Nicolas Jarry against Belgian teenager Alexander Blockx.
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