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Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame another shoe problem and an angry Benoit Paire on Friday to advance 7-5, 6-0 and set up a semi-final against Australian firebrand Nick Kyrgios at the Citi Open in Washington.
Frenchman Benoit lost his temper in the third game of the second set when top seed Tsitsipas halted the match to attend to a broken shoe lace.
Benoit told the chair umpire the Greek was stalling for time and claimed it was a pattern with Tsitsipas, who also stopped play to attend to problems with his footwear in his last two matches.
Once play resumed and Benoit lost a point, the Frenchman pretended to have a shoe issue of his own and sat in his chair, testing the chair's patience but earning no warning.
Benoit failed to regain his composure after the argument and Tsitsipas cruised to the win on a warm night in the US capital.
Kyrgios later hammered down 19 aces and needed just under an hour to defeat Slovakian lucky loser Norbert Gombos 6-3, 6-3 under the lights.
The semi-final will mark the first career meeting between the two players but they know each other's games well.
They are doubles partners this week in Washington and have said they also plan to team up at the Cincinnati Masters later this month.
Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev looked sharp en route to an impressive 6-4, 7-6(7) win over Marin Cilic and will next face German Peter Gojowczyk, who defeated Britain's Kyle Edmund 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in their quarter-final.
In the women's draw, teenager Caty McNally upset fourth-seeded Hsieh Su-wei 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semis in her first WTA tournament and set up a meeting with Camila Giorgi, who defeated Zarina Diyas 6-3, 6-2.
McNally, 17, is the latest American teenager to make waves in the tennis world after 15-year-old Cori 'Coco' Gauff reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last month and Hailey Baptiste, also 17, stunned second-seeded Madison Keys on Tuesday.
In other quarter-final action Anna Kalinskaya beat Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to set up a date with Jessica Pegula, who defeated fellow American Lauren Davis 6-2, 7-6(2) to advance to the semis.
Sakkari battles back to reach semis in San Jose
Maria Sakkari came from behind to defeat top-seeded Elina Svitolina 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a thrilling quarter-final at the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose on Friday.
Sakkari saved four match points and trailed 5-2 in the second set but found her form in time to extend her run at the tournament, where she lost the final last year.
"I don't know where I found this power. Probably I have it deep inside. I'm a Spartan -- we don't forget that," the Greek 24-year-old said with a smile.
"I'm super happy. I was playing very bad tennis. I was not moving, not reacting at all. I really don't know how I managed to wake up."
A pep talk during the match from coach Tom Hill appeared to inspire Sakkari, who lost to Svitolina in their third-round meeting at Wimbledon last month.
Sakkari will next face Amanda Anisimova or Saisai Zheng on Saturday.
In another compelling quarter-final, second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka defeated Carla Suarez Navarro in a marathon 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 match earlier in the day.
Sabalenka rifled a forehand winner on match point to end the nearly two-hour affair and book her ticket to the last four as she hunts for her fourth career singles title.
Next up for Sabalenka is a semi-final with Donna Vekic, who put on a serving clinic to dispatch American Kristie Ahn 7-5, 6-0.
Sharan-Erlich pair exits from Mexico event
India's Divij Sharan and his partner Jonathan Erlich exited from the men's doubles event of the ATP 250 Los Cabos tournament in Mexico, losing the semi-final to top seeds Dominic Inglot and Austin Krajicek.
Sharan and Elrich lost 2-6, 6-3, 3-10 to the British-American pair in the last-four stage match which lasted one hour and 20 minutes.
After the losing the first set, the unseeded Sharan and Elrich fought back to take the second set but the top seeds dominated the Super Tie breaker.
Sharan and Erlich had knocked out Hans Hach Verdugo and Dennis Novikov 7-5, 6-3 in the quarters after defeating the fourth seeded pair of Ben McLachlan and John-Patrick Smith 7-5, 6-1 in the round of 16.
Russian official suspended for failing to report corrupt approach
Russian tennis official Svetlana Teryaeva was handed a six-month suspension and a $1,000 fine for "failing to report a corrupt approach", the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) said on Friday.
The offences were committed when she was approached in July 2017 and offered payment to manipulate scores on her personal digital assistant (PDA), which would have helped gamblers profit by making certain bets.
Although she refused, she was pulled up because she had not disclosed the approach to the TIU as required by the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).
However, the TIU said that four months of the ban and the fine were suspended on the condition that she commit no more offences.
"The sanction was imposed by independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer Jayne Mulcahy QC, following a decision reached on May 24 this year which found that Ms Teryaeva had committed two non-reporting offences," the TIU said in a statement.
"As a result of the suspension Ms Teryaeva cannot officiate in or attend any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by the governing bodies of the sport until Oct. 1, 2019."
No further details were disclosed.
Kvitova withdraws from Toronto event with forearm injury
Twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has withdrawn from next week's Rogers Cup in Toronto with a nagging forearm injury, Tennis Canada announced on Friday.
The 29-year-old Czech, who won the Rogers Cup in 2012, initially injured her forearm while training in Paris ahead of the French Open and has not competed since her loss in the last 16 at Wimbledon last month.
"My forearm injury is continuing to cause some problems so, on the advice of my medical team, I have made the decision not to travel to Canada," Kvitova said in a Tennis Canada news release. "I will really miss being in Toronto this year."
The injury has interrupted what has been an impressive season for Kvitova, who triumphed in Sydney, finished runner-up at the Australian Open and then won the title in Stuttgart.
Kvitova was among the favourites going into the French Open but withdrew from the year's second Grand Slam before her first-round match because of the forearm injury that she said at the time required her to take up to three weeks off.
Due to Kvitova's withdrawal from Toronto, Tennis Canada said three-time champion Serena Williams will now be a top-eight seed and play her opening match on Wednesday.
