An Olympics tennis match between American Emma Navarro and China’s Qinwen Zheng has ended in extraordinary circumstances.
It is widely known that there is no love lost between world No.7 Zheng and 23-year-old Navarro, but what followed after their third round Roland Garros battle on Tuesday was totally unexpected.
Zheng won the three-hour match 6-7, 7-6 and 6-1.
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And Navarro, who had held a match point, became frustrated as the match slipped away and the vocal Chinese fans — who packed out Court Seven — cheered on their superstar.
Things then came to a head after the final point.
Tennis journalist José Morgado called it “the most unexpected drama of the day” as he observed the “tense” handshake at the net.
The players then faced the media and explained what happened.
“I just told her I didn’t respect her as a competitor,” Navarro said in a jaw-dropping admission.
“I think she goes about things in a pretty cut-throat way.
“It makes for a locker room that doesn’t have a lot of camaraderie, so it’s tough to face an opponent like that, who I really don’t respect.
“But, kudos to her, she played some good tennis there at the end. She played better than me.”
Zheng then grabbed the upper hand in her version of events.
“She told me she doesn’t know how I have a lot of fans,” she told media.
“It looks like she’s not happy with my behaviour towards her.
“If she’s not happy about my behaviour, she can come and tell me. I would like to correct it to become a better player and a better person.
“I’m glad that she told me that. I will not consider it an attack because she lost the match.”
Zheng will now play Germany’s former world No.1 Angelique Kerber on Wednesday in a bid to make the semi-final and put herself in medal contention.
The 36-year-old Kerber is playing in her final tournament before she retires.
She defeated Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 to progress.