British tennis player Naomi Broady was left incensed during a heated second round match with Jelena Ostapenko in Auckland after she launched a rant at her opponent and the umpire in which she insisted the Latvian intentionally threw her racket at a ball boy.
Broady was seen arguing with the umpire before having words with Ostapenko at the end of the match after the latter appeared to throw her racket while chasing a Broady winner during the second-set tie-break, which ended up hitting a nearby boy.
Broady, currently the British number three, insisted Ostapenko should be disqualified, but the Latvian said her racket had slipped out of her hand - a view that the umpire also shared.
Broady - who defeated Ana Ivanovic in the first round - went on to win the match 4-6 7-6 (7/4) 7-5, but said afterwards: "Jelena commented that my behaviour was terrible, 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.
"I think it was quite clear that she threw her racket and it hit a ball kid, which should be straight disqualified. I think on the replay it's quite clear it didn't slip from her hand."
The British number three now goes on to face fifth seed Sloane Stephens in the next round.
