Maria Sakkari and Danielle Collins were involved in a heated altercation during their second-round clash at the Canadian Open over a ball abuse incident.
In the early goings of the second set, Sakkari was serving at 1-2, and fired her first serve long to which Collins returned it back. The Washington finalist reacted hastily to the fault serve by firing the ball into the ground and which bounce straight into the stands. Although it was not clear from the TV angle where the ball landed, Collins certainly had a good view.
Sakkari quickly put her hand up to apologize to the fans in the stand, but Collins wasn't letting the Greek off the hook for what she felt was reckless behavior, asking the chair umpire: 'Did you just see that? Did you see what happened?'
'It didn't hit anyone, it was on the ground,' Sakkari tried to plead her innocence, to which Collins was having none of it and could be heard audibly telling Sakkari, 'Shut your mouth' multiple times. The confrontation was simmering before the chair umpire Julie Kjendlie stepped in to restore a semblance of order.
"What is your problem? I didn't hit anyone. I framed the ball...I didn't hit anyone."
Collins was gesticulating to the chair umpire, maintaining her stance that Sakkari hit the ball into the stands, which the Greek eighth seed alluded to hit it to the ground, taking away its momentum. The passionate Montreal crowd only seemed to add fuel to the fire in the row.
"You hit the ball into the stands, Maria. You almost hit someone."
Eventually, the umpire diffused the situation, and play carried on, with Sakkari winning the point on her second serve backing it up with a 'come on' chant and a shake of the racket. But that tempestuous moment weighed on her mind and Sakkari dropped her serve a few points later, giving Collins in a cushion in the match, which the American won 6-4, 6-2.
You can check out the moment when it all boiled down in the video below:
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