Frances Tiafoe has spoken out after Lorenzo Musetti avoided disqualification in their French Open quarter-final before going on to win. The Italian kicked a ball away in frustration in the second set, and it unintentionally hit a line judge.

Tiafoe was at his bench, grabbing a new racket when the No. 8 seed kicked out and appeared to ask the umpire to step in, but only a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct was given. Musetti lost the set but regrouped to win 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-2, reaching his second Grand Slam semi-final and his first at Roland Garros. After suffering defeat, Tiafoe said: “It’s comical.”

Other players, including Novak Djokovic and Denis Shapovalov, have immediately been sent out of a tournament when unintentionally striking ball kids, linesmen or umpires in a moment of frustration.

Musetti was lucky to avoid the same fate in his quarter-final match at Roland Garros when he kicked a ball that bounced off a line judge’s chest. He immediately apologised and accepted his code violation.

Tiafoe seemed keen for the umpire to take action after the incident. After the match, the 15th seed didn’t want to get into a debate, but he made a telling comment about Musetti’s fate.

“Yeah, I mean, obviously he did that and nothing happened. I think that's comical, but it is what it is,” he said.

“Nothing happened, so there's nothing really to talk about. Obviously, it's not consistent, so it is what it is.”

Tiafoe wasn’t the only one who questioned whether it warranted a disqualification.

On social media, tennis player-turned-coach Rennae Stubbs wrote: “I know he didn’t mean it but no one does, man, this is BAD! And he’s out there playing right, knowing he could easily have been in the locker room!”

And Tim Henman, who was defaulted during a Wimbledon 1995 doubles match for a similar accidental incident, said: “The umpire could have interpreted that as a disqualification. However, if Musetti was disqualified for that, I think Musetti would feel very unlucky and very aggrieved.”

Tiafoe was happy to concede to Musetti otherwise, admitting the Italian did a better job of dealing with the tricky conditions.

He added: “Obviously it was tough conditions today. No question about it. I think ultimately he was more willing to kind of just hang in there, hang tough. A lot of junk shots today.

“He defended incredible with some high balls that always landed in, never could go just out.

“Yeah, he was just tougher in the winning-ugly department, because it wasn't going to be clean from either of us. It was really, really windy and tough conditions, and he was more willing to do that today than I was.”