Australian tennis star Jordan Thompson has had the last laugh after confronting hecklers in the front row of his first match at the Cincinnati Open.

The world No.32 lost the first set against 13th seed Ugo Humbert but when he began mounting a comeback in the second, he was up against more than his opponent.

The drama unfolded on the court and social media as a tennis fan sitting nearby provided running updates on the two men.

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Thompson was “clearly agitated” after the second run-in and notified chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani, but it was then “getting more heated” with a third incident and the Australian spoke directly with the fans.

Lahyani himself spoke with one of the men and security then threatened to throw him out, at which point the fan tracking the saga noted one man had twice “mentioned having a bet on Humbert and argued his case”.

“I can see white shirt man’s phone. Looks to be placing bets,” the fan wrote.

Later, he said: “Thompson missed a first serve on break point and had two choice curse words. When he loses the break the man got up for it and told Thompson there are children here. Probably irrelevant but I see no children.”

One of the man then said — “totally unprovoked,” according to the chronicler — “I want to see Nick Kyrgios, not Jordan Thompson!”