Denis Shapovalov won’t face any further sanctions after being defaulted from his Mubadala Citi DC Open quarter-final showdown with Ben Shelton on Friday night. The match ended in controversy, with Shelton progressing to the last four where he lost to Italian ace Flavio Cobolli.

The quarter-final encounter proved to be a tight affair, with Shelton edging a tiebreak in the first set. And the second set also headed into a tiebreak as the two players couldn’t be separated after 12 games.

Shapovalov was guilty of three consecutive unforced errors deep into the tiebreak as he gifted his opponent three match points. And the Canadian proceeded to throw his racket to the ground, before palming and kicking it in anger.

Shapovalov then turned his attention to a member of the crowd as he got involved in a heated exchange with a fan. The player reportedly swore at the spectator, with the chair umpire opting to hand him a code violation for verbal abuse.

Shapovalov protested that he was within his rights to “tell off” the spectator who had heckled him. But he was ultimately defaulted after the supervisor was beckoned onto the court.

A statement from the ATP Tour read: “ATP has reviewed an appeal from Denis Shapovalov following his default from the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 tournament in Washington. The fines committee has affirmed that officials followed correct procedures in defaulting the player.

“However, the committee has concluded that loss of rankings points and prize money, which is automatically applied in the case of a default, would be a disproportionate penalty in this case.

“Shapovalov therefore retains quarter-final points and prize money, with a fine of $36,400 (£28,500) applied for the code violation.”

Shapovalov has form when it comes to questionable behaviour on the court and was defaulted during the 2017 Davis Cup after hitting the ball towards the stands and inadvertently striking umpire Arnaud Gabas in the eye.

And after that incident, the 25-year-old later explained: “I let a lot of people down, including my country, Davis Cup team-mates, supporters and fans. I knew I couldn’t undo what happened, so the only thing left was to face my mistake and work on never letting this happen again.

“I stayed in touch with Arnaud to check on his recovery and he has been incredibly gracious and understanding.

“It occurred to me again that the Davis Cup incident was probably the most maturing experience for me since turning pro.”