‘It slipped out of my hand!’ Tennis bad boy Kyrgios hurls water bottle at umpire’s chair (VIDEO)

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios added another episode to his litany of on-court outbursts by hurling a bottle of water at the umpire’s chair during his third-round match at the Citi Open – before claiming “it slipped out of his hand.”

The 24-year-old recorded a confident 6-2 7-5 victory over 77-ranked Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament in Washington, but it’s yet another meltdown from the Aussie that will make most of the headlines.

At the change of ends during the match, the hot-headed Kyrgios was sitting next to the umpire when he angrily threw the water bottle at the official's chair.

In explanation for the outburst, Kyrgios said the bottle “just slipped out of his hand” when the official asked him what had happened.

A day earlier, the Aussie tennis rebel refused to shake hands with the chair umpire following his win over Frenchman Gilles Simon, calling the official a "potato with arms and legs."

Kyrgios had earlier smashed his racket during the match before presenting the mangled remains to a young fan.

For a place in the semi-finals Kyrgios will face the winner of the clash between Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas and Benoit Paire of France.