US Open ball boy ignites crowd by chasing down insect that stopped play

The 2024 U.S. Open had it's latest strange on-court incident Tuesday night when a bug flew around the court and stopped a match between Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov and American Frances Tiafoe.

During the second set of the eventual Tiafoe win, the insect flew down in front of the two competitors and evaded capture for minutes. 

The match was tied in the second set, 4-4, at the time of the interruption.

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Multiple ball boys approached the court to try and capture the insect, but their first several attempts were unsuccessful. The New York crowd laughed with each failed attempt to subdue the bug. 

Eventually, one of the ball boys got his hand on the bug and then raised his fist in triumph to announce he had captured it. The crowd roared with a sarcastic applause. 

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Play resumed shortly after, and Tiafoe won 6-4. 

Tiafoe's victory means the U.S. will have a home player in the men's final for the first time since 2006. Tiafoe will face countryman Taylor Fritz in the semifinals after his quarterfinal win over Alexander Zverev. 

This year's U.S. Open has already had its share of unusual incidents involving ball staff and on-court stoppages.

On Monday, play was suspended on all courts for a brief period due to a fire alarm.

Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva issued a public apology after her third-round loss to Jasmine Paolini after she was slammed on social media for a disrespectful interaction with a ball girl Saturday. Video on social media showed the awkward moment when Putintseva appeared to give the ball girl a cold shoulder during the second set of the 6-3, 6-4 loss.

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