NEW YORK -- Daniil Medvedev angrily snatched a towel from a ball person's hands, threw his racket toward the chair umpire and was captured on the big screens giving a middle finger.

All that in the first set of the fifth-seeded Medvedev's third-round US Open match against Feliciano Lopez on Friday night turned the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd against him, resulting in a cascade of boos and then thunderous cheers every time he lost a point.

The drama midway through the first set began when a frustrated Medvedev snatched the towel from a ball person and was given a code violation by umpire Damien Dumusois. Medvedev then threw his racket in the direction of Dumusois, barked something at him and later flashed a middle finger next to his forehead as he walked past the umpire's chair.

Even in the midst of that turmoil, Medvedev went on to win that drama-filled set in a tiebreaker, 7-1, before Lopez won the second set 6-4. At one point in that set, the anti-Medvedev crowd began chanting "Lopez! Lopez!"

Medvedev won a third-set tiebreaker to take a two-sets-to-one lead.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.