Italian 38-year-old Fabio Fognini took on 26-year-old Frenchman Corentin Moutet in the Stuttgart Open, where Moutet bested Fognini in three sets 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. When the two met at the net to shake hands after the match, things got feisty.

Fabio Fognini sparked drama at the Stuttgart Open with a fiery outburst at Corentin Moutet after a tense three-set loss.

With Roland Garros in the rearview, top players on the ATP Tour are shifting their focus to the grass-court season as they prepare for Wimbledon. Alexander Zverev kicked off his campaign at the BOSS Open in Stuttgart on Thursday with a win over Corentin Moutet.

Fabio Fognini had some harsh words for Corentin Moutet after their back-and-forth match in the Stuttgart Open in Germany earlier this week.

One would expect a serious clash to take place when Corentin Moutet and Fabio Fognini face each other. It lived up to the hype as they played a grueling three-set match before things became ugly at the net handshake.

Fabio Fognini did some name-calling toward Corentin Moutet during a handshake between them after their first-round match at the Stuttgart Open in Germany

Even as Fognini kept saying something to him, Moutet didn’t respond verbally, just patted his opponent on the back after the handshake, and moved away from him to shake the referee’s hand. Fognini hadn’t stopped talking.

Corentin Moutet has been involved in a string of controversial incidents in recent months and he lost his cool with the umpire once again during his defeat to Alexander Zverev