AUCKLAND • A fired-up Naomi Broady let her racquet do the talking yesterday, as she stormed back to beat Jelena Ostapenko in an Auckland Classic clash marred by an on-court row.
Tensions boiled over in the second set of the low-key, second- round clash when, after a winner by Broady, the 18-year-old Osta- penko's racquet came out of her hand, bounced off the blue hard court and against the back wall towards the ball boy.
Broady then called for the Latvian to be disqualified.
"She threw the racquet and hit the ball boy, no way was that accidental," the 25-year-old Briton complained to the umpire.
Play was delayed as the umpire and ball boy had a conversation. The umpire opted for a code violation over a disqualification after Ostapenko argued the racquet slipped from her hand, but an upset Broady called for another official to adjudicate.
In 2012, David Nalbandian was disqualified from the final at Queen's when he kicked an advertising board in frustration. A linesman was inadvertently injured and the Argentine's opponent Marin Cilic was awarded the title by default.
"I asked for the tournament referee to come down onto the court to give his opinion," Broady told local media.
"But as he isn't the chair umpire, he goes by what the chair umpire says and his opinion was that it had slipped from her hand, as Jelena had said, so it was just a code violation and move onto the next point."
Broady, who knocked out former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the first round on Tuesday, settled quicker to take the tie-break and force a deciding set but she looked down and out as she trailed 5-1 in the third.
But the British qualifier saved a second match point as she stormed back to prevail 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 and book a spot in the quarter-finals.
Both players shook hands at the end of the contest but bad blood remained with Broady angry about the incident and repeating her accusation that Ostapenko intentionally threw her racquet in the second set.
The umpire attempted to quell the trouble as the players continued their verbal volleys.
"Jelena commented that my behaviour was terrible," Broady said. "Which I thought was a bit out of order, considering the events that had gone on in the match. I don't think I did anything disrespectful to her, or anyone else on the court.
"So I'm not really sure where that came from, but tensions were high, adrenaline was going.
"We had a bit of a confrontation, but she's going to be a fantastic player and I'm sure we'll both learn from any mistakes we made today and move forwards."
REUTERS
