ST PETERSBURG, Oct 26: Top seed Nikolay Davydenko received a warning from the umpire for not trying hard enough as he lost to Croatian qualifier Marin Cilic in the second round of the St Petersburg Open on Thursday.

The Russian played near flawless tennis in the first set but then started making numerous errors and committed 10 double-faults in the last two sets.

He was then warned by Belgian umpire Jean-Philippe Dercq in the final set for tanking.

“I double-faulted to lose a game in the third set and he gave me a warning saying I was trying to lose on purpose,” the world number four, whose match against Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello in August is being investigated by the ATP Tour after irregular betting patterns, told reporters.

“I was simply shocked to hear him say that. This is just outrageous. How does he know what I was trying to do? I was so upset with the whole thing I started crying,” added Davydenko, who was talking to the tournament supervisor after the match.

“Well, I was just trying to find out if they were going to fine me or not,” he said. “The reality is that I started feeling tired. My legs were just dead by the third set. Maybe my problems are psychological, maybe it’s in my head.”

He was cruising to a comfortable win after taking the first set in 27 minutes, but the 102nd-ranked Cilic broke him late in the second to level the score before racing through the decider to record a memorable victory.—Reuters