Former US Open champion Sloane Stephens said players who take long toilet breaks may be fixing the results, after Stefanos Tsitsipas came under fresh criticism for leaving the court near the end of a match.

Andy Murray was furious with Tsitsipas in the first round on Monday, after the Greek took about an 8-minute toilet break during a marathon five-set match, and the Briton said the pause affected the match result and his opponent's victory.

Andy Murray clearly unhappy with Stefanos Tsitsipas' extended toilet breaks!

Lashes out at the supervisor#USOpen pic.twitter.com/24haG7r7g0

— Lakshya Chopra (@LakshyaNotLaksh) August 30, 2021

In his second round match against Adrian Mannarino on Wednesday, world number three Tsitsipas fired 27 aces en route to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-0 victory, but another


toilet

break

led to boos from masses.

Greek Tsitsipas won all his first serve points in the opening set, hitting 53 winners in the match against 26 for Manarino, and looked on his way to an easy victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium before his French opponent won the tiebreak in the third set.

Adrian Mannarino forces a 4th set in Ashe!

#USOpen pic.twitter.com/9vVXRg03j2

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 2, 2021

Tsitsipas then returned to the dressing room and took a break of more than 7 minutes to go to the toilet, leaving Mannarino to ask for some warm-up balls before the fourth set.

Tsitsipas was greeted with jeers from spectators after his return and as he prepared to serve for the start of the group.

But the Greek player was not affected much by that, and won the next six games, to set up a meeting in the third round with young Spaniard Carlos Alvarez.

Stevens, a member of the WTA board, said this type of behavior was fraudulent and should stop.

"They're making changes to the regulations for things that aren't worth it like reducing the warm-up time by one minute. I think some other regulations really need to be changed. When somebody goes to the toilet for nine minutes, nobody says a word," added the 2017 US Open winner.

"I think this is causing a lot of controversy now. People are talking in the press and through the media and maybe it will get more attention with time. This kind of manipulation can change the outcome of a match."

Tsitsipas, 23, has repeatedly said he is not breaking any rules, as there is no time limit for toilet breaks.