Benoit Paire has been criticized by fans after many accused him of deliberately performing poorly in his match against Pedro Martinez on the Challenger Tour.

The French player faced home favorite and eighth seed Martinez in the opening round of the Malaga Challenger event. The Spaniard dominated the first set, winning 6-0 while Paire looked like he was barely in the match.

After Martinez secured an early break in the second set and was leading 4-2, Paire chose to retire from the match. However, a controversial moment occurred early on in the first set which led some to accuse the encounter of being "rigged."

As Martinez led 3-0, 0-30 in the opener, Paire hit the ball way out after an attempt at a drop shot. This meant that his opponent had three break points, but instead of fighting back, Paire hit his shot out of bounds, something which many accused him of doing deliberately.

A clip of the controversial incident circulated online, with tennis fans quick to express their outrage at the World No. 123.

"Special effort by our beloved Benoit today," wrote one sarcastically.

"Paire should be banned and fined," another responded.

"How is this not match fixing? Should get a long ban for this, but no one will do anything. Just makes the sport look a joke," added another.

Meanwhile, tennis journalist José Morgado shared his disbelief on X, formerly known as Twitter, writing:

"What am I watching?"

"Completely undisguised tanking," replied one fan.

"A rigged match," commented another.