Monday 2 September 2019 20:30, UK
Daniil Medvedev is through to the US Open quarter-finals but was the target for fans' boos for the second match in a row at the Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Medvedev beat Germany's Dominik Koepfer 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (2), but was roundly booed by the New York crowd who have not forgiven the fifth seed for his behaviour in the previous round against Feliciano Lopez.
Medvedev received an unsportsmanlike conduct code violation for snatching a towel from a ballperson's hands in the first set against Lopez, before he later made an offensive gesture in the direction of the crowd.
After he won, surrounded by boos, Medvedev raised up his arms, motioning to the crowd to keep going.
"I was painful in my abductor before the match. I thought I'm not going to play," Medvedev said in his on-court interview.
"I was painful in my shoulder. I took as much painkillers as I could. And you guys, being against me, you gave me so much energy to win. Thank you."
The notoriously vocal New York crowd continued to jeer.
"Guys, continue to give me this energy," Medvedev said. "You're the best."
Medvedev addressed the issue again later on in his news conference: "After the match, I engaged a little bit with the crowd.
"But we all know how the New York crowd can be. It's probably the most electric crowd in the world, I think. Especially, I mean, playing this week on big courts, I could feel it.
"Today I was just engaging with the crowd and hopefully - hopefully it was fun for them and for me. As I said, it gave me a lot of energy to win."
Heading into Sunday, Medvedev has racked up $19,000 in fines at the US Open: $7,500 for verbal abuse in the first round, $2,500 for abuse of his racket in the second round and $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct and $4,000 for a visible obscenity in the third round.
Medvedev moves on to play No 23 seed Stan Wawrinka who got past defending champion Novak Djokovic after he was forced to retire with a shoulder injury.
