Tensions nearly boiled over on Margaret Court Arena with sixth seed Maria Sakkari threatening to call the referee on her teen opponent in a heated clash.
A struggling Sakkari was facing the prospect of being bundled out of the Australian Open at one-set down when she clashed with 18-year-old qualifier Diana Shnaider at 5-4 in the second set.
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Shnaider saved three set points to level at 5-5 and unleashed in a fierce roar – but Sakkari was far from pleased.
“If she screams one more time in my face, I’m going to call the referee,” she told the chair umpire.
“I don’t think it’s to you,” the chair umpire said of her rival’s antics.
But Sakkari furiously replied: “No, no, no. She’s coming towards me.”
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Sakkari regained her composure to take the second set 7-5.
She then broke Shnaider in the third to take a 3-1 lead and eventually claimed the set 6-3 to move through to the third round.
After the match, Sakkari said: “I think that, you know, during a match you can be very pumped or, you know, the way that some players celebrate their points, it’s not appropriate. I wasn’t happy with that.
“But, you know, she never did it again. That was very nice of her, so it was, yeah, that
was it.”
Despite the defeat, Russian rising star Shnaider still has a major headache as the 18-year-old continues to enjoy a dream start to life on the WTA Tour.
Shnaider won the 2021 Wimbledon junior girl’s doubles and did the same at the Australian Open in 2022, before breaking through late last year with a WTA 125K title in Montevideo.
This month, the prodigious left-hander surged through qualifying for the Australian Open women’s singles without dropping a set, reaching her first grand slam main draw.
The bandana-loving Shnaider then beat Slovak veteran Kristina Kucova in the opening round, guaranteeing her a $158,850 payday and a place in the top 100 rankings.
Should she have won the second-round tie, it would have guaranteed her a $227,925 payday. However, last year she committed to joining American college North Carolina State – and that comes with one big problem.
“One of my mother’s friends told us about N.C. State,” she said as she committed to play the 2022-2023 college season.
“Right now, the situation is really bad for me, and for Russians to travel, so we made the decision that it would be the right time to come here.”
But under NCAA rules, she cannot compete in the college system while also earning prize money as a professional player.
That means if she decides to go through with her college plans, she would have to give up her Australian Open payday of $158,850 as well as her entire career earnings to date of $75,146 USD (around $107k AUD).
Sakkari though had some clear advice for her after the match.
“Maybe she should consider not going to college,” she said.
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