Tennis: Tensions boil over on centre court

Naomi Broady, (pictured) and Jelena Ostapenko engaged in a war of words at the ASB Classic

Drawcards like Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic are gone but there was no lack of drama at the ASB Classic yesterday, with two more seeds falling and a rare incident that saw the umpire stepping in to separate two players after their match.

The flash point came in the second match on centre court, with tears and tantrums in the match between British qualifier Naomi Broady and Latvian teenager Jelena Ostapenko.

The world No122 Broady insisted Ostapenko should have been disqualified after the Latvian threw her racquet and it bounced off the ground and hit a ballboy. The ball boy was called to the umpires' chair, and confirmed the racquet had hit him on the shoulder.

As emotions ran high, Broady, who was trailing by a set at the time, was in tears as she first remonstrated with umpire Blaze Trifunobski, then tournament supervisor Tony Cho.

Ostapenko was just as incredulous, claiming that the incident was an accident. Ostapenko clearly threw her racquet, though it didn't appear to be directed intentionally at the ballboy.

"It was quite clear that she threw her racquet and it hit a ball kid ... which should be [instant] disqualification," said Broady. The rules state players can be defaulted for "unsporting" actions on court.

There was obvious animosity between the players for the rest of the match which was eventually won by Broady 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5.

After a cursory handshake, the duo continued to snipe at each other before the umpire stepped in and Ostapenko left the court.

"At the end of the match Jelena commented that my behaviour was terrible, which I thought was a bit out of order," said Broady.