US Open descends into chaos as photographer walks on court at match point to spark player meltdown

Daniil Medvedev's US Open first-round clash descended into chaos late Sunday night when a bumbling photographer inadvertently entered the court and sparked a furious meltdown from the former world No. 1.

The controversial Russian, a previous US Open winner in New York, began his campaign against unseeded Frenchman Benjamin Bonz, but things took an ugly turn and ended in the early hours of the morning with Medvedev wildly smashing his racket at the side of the court.

Some of the most bizarre scenes in tennis history unfolded at the end of the third set when Bonzi was serving on match point, seconds away from a career-best win, only for a photographer to leave his position and stumble onto the court.

It appeared that the photographer had hoped to move into a new position to get the perfect shot of Bonzi celebrating the win, only to realise he'd got up too early and inadvertently disturbed proceedings.

Bonzi had served a fault on his first serve before the barely believable moment occurred, and the umpire then opted to give him a fresh chance at a first serve - much to the fury of Medvedev on the other side of the court.

'First serve. Ladies and gentlemen, because of the delay caused by an outside interference, first serve has been granted,' the umpire, American Gregory Allensworth, called.