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 Tensions boiled over in the second set of the low key second round
clash when, after a winner by Broady, the 18-year-old Ostapenko's
racquet came out of her hand, bounced off the blue hard court and
against the back wall towards the ball boy.
"She threw the racquet and hit the ball boy, no way was that
accidental," the 25-year-old Broady 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 the
Latvian wildcard argued the racquet slipped from her hand but a
clearly upset Broady called for another official to adjudicate.
"I asked for the tournament referee to come down onto the court to
give his opinion," Broady was quoted as saying by 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 number one Ana Ivanovic in the
first round on Tuesday, settled quicker to take the tiebreak 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(4) 7-5, helped by 21 aces, and book a spot
in the quarter-finals where she will face American fifth seed Sloane
Stephens.
Both players shook hands at the end of the contest but bad blood
remained with Broady clearly angry about the incident and repeating
her accusation that Ostapenko intentionally threw her racquet in the
second set.
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The umpire attempted to quell the trouble as the players continued
their verbal volleys.
"Jelena commented that my behavior 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, adrenalin 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."
(Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
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