Great Britain’s Davis Cup first round match against Canada ended in the most bizarre way possible as Canada were eliminated after their player Denis Shapovalov was defaulted for hitting the umpire in the face.

The tie was evenly poised at 2-2 and Shapovalov, the reigning Wimbledon junior champion, was taking on Kyle Edmund to earn his team a place in the next round. However, Edmund was the favourite to win the tie after taking the first two sets and leading the third set 2-1 before a frustrated Shapovalov hit the ball in anger which hit the umpire straight into his left eye. Replays clearly showed the player was trying to hit the ball into the stands but unfortunately it hit the chair umpire Arnaud Gabas.

Here is a clip of that unfortunate incident:

The match official applied ice to the wound but could not continue. Brian Earley, the match referee, then defaulted the Canadian player and as a result Great Britain advanced to the next round.

Speaking after the incident, Shapovalov said:

“I went back and spoke to the umpire afterwards and apologised directly to him”.

“Luckily he was OK but obviously it’s unacceptable behaviour from me. I feel incredibly ashamed and embarrassed and I just feel awful for letting my team down, for letting my country down, for acting in a way that I would never want to act. I can promise that’s the last time I will do anything like that. I’m going to learn from this and try to move past it,” he added.

Meanwhile, Great Britain captain Leon Smith expressed his surprise over the way the match ended.

“It is a surprise what happened at the end there and it is a shame,” Smith told the BBC.

“I feel for the young lad. He’s a great talent and he has learned a harsh lesson. But Kyle, from what we saw on Friday to today, was fantastic. How he prepared, how he took command, his unbelievable serving and he kept pressure on the turns. It was a great performance,” he added.

Great Britain will now take on France in the quarter-final tie scheduled for April 7-9.