Emma Raducanu called for a crying child to be removed from the crowd during her narrow defeat to world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in Cincinnati.
The British tennis star almost pulled off her biggest victory since her US Open title win in 2021 before Sabalenka triumphed 7-6 (6-2) 4-6 7-6 (7-5).
There were tense scenes at a important stage during the third set – while Raducanu was serving – as a screaming child distracted the 22-year-old.
A clearly frustrated Raducanu stopped her service action and told Cincinnati Open umpire Miriam Bley: ‘It’s been, like, 10 minutes [of crying].’
The umpire then responded: ‘It’s a child… Do you want me to kick the child out of the stadium?’
Raducanu was seen shrugging but after members of the crowd started replying ‘yes’, the British No.1 pointed to them and smiled in agreement.
‘I can call in, but we need to continue for the moment,’ the umpire added during a break in play.
After an incredible tally of 13 deuces – and fending off four break points – Raducanu was finally able to hold serve for 4-4 following the incident.
There was another flashpoint in the match when Raducanu was told off by the umpire for getting advice from her new tennis coach Francis Roig.
Raducanu could be heard saying ‘help me understand’ mid-match to Roig, only for the umpire to interrupt and shout out: ‘Emma, Emma!’
The Briton headed back to her seat and was told: ‘Emma, you can’t actively approach him and he can’t leave his position, you know that? You cannot have a conversation.’
Raducanu replied: ‘I can’t hear anything because the music is really loud.’
The umpire then added: ‘Then he needs to speak louder. You cannot actively approach him and he cannot leave his position, he needs to stay where he is and you cannot actively go towards him.
‘What you’ve done with the ball is fine, but you cannot actively go at the end of a game especially.’
World No.39 Raducanu apologised to the umpire, saying: ‘Sorry I didn’t know.’
Raducanu eventually lost via a tie-break in the in the deciding set as Sabalenka survived a fantastic battle to reach the the last 16 in Cincinnati.
Tennis journalist and commentator Jose Morgado declared the clash ‘one of the best matches of Raducanu’s career’ in a showdown which lasted three hours and nine minutes.
Raducanu is currently gearing up for the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year – the US Open – which gets underway in New York on August 24.
