(VIDEO) Terence Atmane survives cramps to defeat furious Humbert whose coach confronts umpire after dramatic tussle

An all-French clash between Ugo Humbert and Terence Atmane in the second round of the Madrid Open was a tantalising prospect. In a match filled with controversy, it was the lower ranked Atmane who prevailed in triggering circumstances for the Humbert camp.

Overall, it was a dramatic match of tennis closely fought between the compatriots. It was their second meeting on court, first clashing at the start of the year in the Adelaide International first round. Humbert proved to be the better tennis player that day enroute to the final where he would fail to pick up silverware.

However, the fortunes in the Spanish capital would swiftly be diverted towards the other side of the net. The pair traded breaks of serve early in the first set. It would stay on serve until a tiebreak was called upon, but not for the want of trying. Humbert failed to take a brace of set points on the Atmane serve before fending off a trio of break points by Atmane in a topsy turvey part of the match. The tiebreak would go the way of Atmane with the former Paris Masters finalist looking on.

Atmane was in command of the second set, taking a break advantage as he looked likely to serve it out. Humbert struck late, breaking as the 24-year-old attempted to get the job done with another tiebreak in store. Atmane, again, would come out on top in the race to seven points, confirming a spot in the third round in the process.

His debut in Madrid has so far been perfect in terms of results. That could change with the number two seed Alexander Zverev his next opponent. Despite this, the headlines of the match have not been about his win, shining the spotlight on the controversy throughout.

The Cincinnati Open semi-finalist was suffering dearly in the tiebreak with cramps, screaming in pain at the changeover as he went 5-2 down. He collapsed to the floor in agony, but managed to get up and continued fighting on, winning every point from then until the end as Humbert missed a trick.

There was anger in Humbert's eyes, seething that the umpire, Alexandre Robein, failed to dish out any time violations to the struggling Atmane.

After sealing the win, he was pictured as very apologetic. The handshake between them was a brief one with Humbert not a happy man. There was a part of the court which were booing him after match point as Atmane continued his muted celebrations, holding his hands up in apology.

That is not the end of the story. The coach of Humbert, Jeremy Chardy, had to be restrained by a number of ATP officials after he tried to confront the French umpire in the tunnels of the Madrid facilities, according to L'Equipe. "You should be ashamed of yourself," Chardy reportedly said after the match with his displeasure in him not handing out any time violation warnings to the stricken Atmane.

Atmane spoke on the match in his press conference. "It was like going through hell to be able to win today," Atmane stated. "I just tried to give my best, as I always do. Today I had to fight off cramps all over my body, so it wasn't easy at all. To be able to win in two sets is a wonderful thing, because I was really struggling physically and was just trying to survive."

He tried to abide by the rules, but at times he was unable to. "I tried to fight as hard as possible, to recover as much as possible between points, to breathe and to take my time while respecting the rules. Sometimes those 25 seconds go by very quickly, so I always tried to be ready to serve and return. There were times when I felt like I was completely tense, and other times when I felt better, so it was difficult to find the right balance."

It was an alarming situation for him. "I'm not used to it, so I panicked a bit," he recalled. "I couldn't breathe properly anymore and it was getting worse and worse. In my mind, it was simply a matter of showing nothing and finishing the match as quickly as possible. But he came back, so I had to keep fighting, and that's what I did."

He refused to discuss the drama after the match between Humbert and his coach. "Unfortunately, these are things that Jeremy (Chardy), Ugo (Humbert) and I cannot control. You have to ask the umpire why he didn't give me a time violation. I have nothing to do with it. I'm just trying to fight with the qualities I have at that moment. I don't deliberately collapse on the ground. It's just that I really can't stand anymore."