Arthur Rinderknech produces passionate but unusual celebration enroute to defeat in Cincinnati

Arthur Rinderknech exploded with joy and passion in an unusual celebrating at a key time before going on to lose 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(5) to Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

It was a remarkably close and tense match throughout in the second round of the Cincinnati Open. Rinerknech, the 25th seed, was hopeful of continuing his progress through the rounds with the hope of going on a deep run in the tournament.

That would not occur with the 31-year-old's Masters 1000 form again under scrutiny. Aside from that magical run to the final of the Shanghai Masters, in which he was defeated by his cousin Valentin Vacherot, he has failed to make it to the fourth round in any of his prior attempts at this level.

This is also with the added benefit that he has recently began most of these tournaments as a seed, boosting his chances and giving him that benefit of skipping the first round and facing someone ranked outside the top 30. It was Cerundolo in this case, and the Argentine would prevail.

After breaking in the very first game of the match, Rinderknech was up and running. He survived a few late break points before serving it out to love. It was only his second appearance at the Cincinnati Open, and he was dearly hoping to make it to consecutive third rounds.

His progress was stunted after blowing three 15-40 leads in the second set, wasting six break points. Cerundolo survived and made him pay by winning the tiebreak 7-3 in controlling fashion.

This third set would be hugely pivotal, and the emotions were clear on court. Rinderknech got the first break but that was met by a four-game winning streak by his opponent who took a 4-2 lead. The damage was limited by Rinderknech with a hold to love before breaking back to level at 4-4.

The Frenchman exploded with passion and joy simultaneously on court, going over to the spectators who were right by the court and loudly cheered in front of them, making his true feelings clear. The fans may have been taken back by this but they realised what type of a tennis match they were watching.

Just two points were won against the serve in the remaining four games with three holds to love leading into a tiebreak. After leading 4-2, Rinderknech fluffed his lines. He went 6-4 down with Cerundolo taking a second match point to culminate a thriller and put him in the third round of a Masters 1000 event for just the third time in his Cincinnati debut. For Rinderknech, it is another bitter blow heading into the US Open with those points from Shanghai looming.