By Shrivathsa Sridhar
PARIS, May 28 (Reuters) - Frances Tiafoe won a French Open marathon against Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday but lost his racket in the ensuing celebrations with fans, later making a plea on social media for its safe return and offering two tickets to his next match.
American 19th seed Tiafoe came through a gruelling contest on Court 14 with a 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 6-4 6-7(1) 6-4 victory before running to the boisterous crowd to rejoice, only for a fan to cheekily snatch his racket.
Tiafoe did
not immediately realise that the racket had been taken, as he stepped away from the crowd and continued his celebrations by taking off his shirt and pointing to his head before flexing his muscles on the court.
But reality dawned and he took to social media a little while later to request that the racket be returned to him before he takes on Portugal's Jaime Faria in the third round.
"Unreal atmosphere on Court 14 today," Tiafoe posted in an Instagram story.
"But I must say to the fan who took my racket at the end when I was celebrating with y'all... can I please have it back? I'll bless you with two tickets for my next match."
Tiafoe, who reached the quarter-finals in Paris last year, is among several American players looking to end a U.S. men's Grand Slam title drought going back to 2003 when Andy Roddick won the U.S. Open trophy.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Paris; editing by Clare Fallon)
