Naomi Osaka was left puzzled by the frostiest of handshakes from opponent Sorana Cirstea as she advanced to the third round of the Australian Open.
Osaka won 6-3 4-6 6-2 to defeat the 35-year-old Romanian, who was playing in her final Australian Open before retirement.
A fuming Cirstea stormed away from Osaka after a brief handshake at the net, before turning around to exchange words with the former world No 1.
Osaka was baffled by the confrontation and brought it up immediately during her on-court interview, even though she was not directly asked about the incident.
Asked what it took to advance to the third round, Osaka replied: “Apparently a lot of ‘come-ons’ as that’s what she was angry about but whatever.”
It drew a mixed reaction from the crowd and Osaka added: “I mean, I tried to play well. I think I made a lot of unforced errors but I tried my best. She’s a great player. I think this was her last Australian Open, so, sorry she’s mad about it.”
Cirstea was frustrated by Osaka pumping herself up between serves and when this was pointed out to her during the on-court interview, an exasperated Osaka replied: “I think so but she could have asked me.”
Serving down 4-2, 30-30 in the third set, Cirstea spoke to the umpire after Osaka had appeared to say “come on, come on” after the Romanian had found the net with her first serve.
“Is that okay? To do come-ons between points?” Cirstea asked the umpire. “So I can talk between points? Yeah, can I go ‘come-on’?”
But it led to a lapse in concentration from the world No 41, who missed a forehand long on the very next point, then blasted a forehand long to go down a double-break. That was greeted by a much louder “come-on” from Osaka.
Cirstea was beginning to boil over in the final game of the match, as she began to swing even harder for the ball. When Osaka won match point, she celebrated with another shout of “come-on” before walking to the net for the hand-shake.
After her show-stopping entrance onto court for her first-round win over Antonia Ruzic, which saw Osaka walk onto the Rod Laver Arena in a white veil, hat and parasol, there was a slightly toned-down look for the four-time grand slam champion for her match against Cirstea.
Still, Osaka walked out onto the Kia Arena in the blue-green jellyfish-inspired jacket and the same white flowing dress and trousers, which she removed for the warm-up.
