MELBOURNE, Australia -- Pablo Carreno Busta lost his cool during a tense fifth-set tiebreaker against Kei Nishikori.
After more than five hours slugging it out Monday on Margaret Court Arena in the fourth round of the Australian Open, Carreno Busta was up 8-5 in the final-set tiebreaker before controversy ensued.
Carreno Busta was two points away from match point, when a line call went against him. His shot hit the tape, but was called out, just as Nishikori put away a winner. Carreno Busta then challenged the call, discovering the ball had in fact landed in play. However, umpire Thomas Sweeney ruled that Nishikori would have won the point regardless and opted not to replay it.
The controversial decision sent Carreno Busta into a meltdown as he proceeded to berate the on-court officials.
Nishikori won the next five points to take the match 6-7 (8), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (8) and move on to the quarterfinals. The pair embraced at the net before Carreno Busta threw his racket bag across the court and continued to hurl abuse at the chair as he left the arena.
"It's tough, to me, to leave [the] Australian Open like this, because I think that I played really good. I [played] an unbelievable match," Carreno Busta said after the match. "I think that the referee missed -- the umpire who is near the court missed.
"If he thinks that the point is for Nishikori, why I can call the Hawk-Eye? If I call the Hawk-Eye and the ball is out, I lost the Hawk-Eye. If I call the Hawk-Eye and the ball is in, I lost the point. I don't understand."
Nishikori will face world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who beat Russian Daniil Medvedev in four sets on Monday night.