Andy Roddick exploded over an umpire's call as Australian Lleyton Hewitt eventually overcame him to reach the semifinals of the US Open.
Fourth seed Hewitt defeated the 18th-seeded American 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, taking the final game after the umpire overruled a line call.
After the hard-hitting American failed to convert two break point opportunities in the ninth game of the set, he served in the next game in the likelihood that the match would go into a fifth set tie-breaker.
But on the first point of the 10th game, chair umpire Jorge Dias of Portugal overruled a call on a Roddick shot to the left sideline, calling "out" a ball that television replays could not prove definitively as having missed or just grazed the line.
"How can you overrule the far side of the court? What is wrong with you?" Roddick (19) asked the impassive Dias. "It was right on the line. Are you an absolute moron?"
Asked later if he would retract "absolute moron", Roddick said: "I'm not going to take anything back. I said it. I meant it at the time".
After the call, Roddick won two points but also committed a couple of errors and wound up being broken for the match. Asked if the call had rattled him, Roddick said: "Of course".
"I thought it was a very good match," Roddick said. "Both of us fought hard. It's unfortunate that I blew up and it ended the way it did".