It all got a bit too much for Arthur Fils during his Indian Wells quarter-final match against Alexander Zverev, as the Frenchman found himself a double break down in under half an hour. The No. 30 seed double-faulted to hand Zverev his second break at the end of a long game. After going 1-4 down, Fils chucked his racket onto the court.

The 21-year-old walked over to it, picked it up, and slammed it into the ground again for good measure, and was handed a code violation for racket abuse. Fils accepted the warning and walked towards a bin behind the umpire's chair, throwing the racket away.

"And there goes the racket. So Fils [was] broken one time in his opening three matches. Already broken twice in his first three service games. And it benefits Sascha Zverev, takes control of set number one in Indian Wells," commentator Kevin Skinner said.

As a slow-motion replay of Fils' racket smash was shown on air, co-commentator Robbie Koenig replied: "You can understand the frustration. 'If I'm going to get a warning, I'm going to make the most of it'. Confined to the scrapheap."

Skinner added: "Utter disgust leading to total destruction, Arthur Fils and his previous racket. That is no more and was tossed in the bin, and his hopes for the opening set seem to be sliding away as well. Sascha Zverev very comfortable today, very collected in his approach against Fils, as he tries to garner a one-set lead."

Fils has been in form after returning from an eight-month injury layoff. Just when he was emerging as one of the most dangerous prospects on the tour, a stress fracture in the Frenchman's back derailed his 2025 season. He got back on track, making a comeback in February and finishing runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz in Doha.

The world No. 32 carried his momentum into Indian Wells, where he shocked ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach the quarters. Fils had barely dropped serve this fortnight, but that changed when he faced Zverev on Stadium 2.

No. 4 seed Zverev has struggled at Indian Wells in the past, never making it beyond the quarters. But he looked in control against Fils, and closed out the first set 6-2 in 43 minutes. The German hit just six unforced errors to 11 from Fils and recorded a performance rating of 9.1 for the set.

And the 21-year-old was immediately under pressure again at the beginning of set two, saving three break points to get on the board. Zverev then had to save a break point to level the score at 1-1.

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