Naomi’s broadside
Brit lets rip at opponent after racket hits ballboy
NAOMI BROADY became involved in a furious argument with her opponent as the British No 3’s surprise run continued into the quarter-finals of the ASB Classic in Auckland. The 25-year-old from Stockport staged a remarkable comeback from 5-1 down in the third set to beat Jelena Ostapenko 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the second round. After the match she called on the umpire to disqualify the Latvian after she threw her racket in disgust and it struck a ballboy. Qualifier Broady, due to face American Sloane Stephens this morning in her biggest match at this level, gave Ostapenko, 18, a send-off after shaking hands at the net. ‘You hit the ballboy with your racket,’ she shouted before going off to celebrate with the crowd. Striking a ballkid in any manner, accidentally or not, usually results in a default, as Tim Henman famously discovered at Wimbledon in 1995. Broady later received support on social media from Judy Murray and fellow pros like France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Israeli Julia Glushko, who are clearly not fans of the Latvian’s behaviour. Kyle Edmund is another surprise package coming through qualifying into the last eight of a main tour event, the Qatar Open. Last night he defeated Spain’s world No 75 Daniel Munoz de la Nava 5-7, 6-3, 7-6. It is the first time the 20-year-old from Yorkshire has made a quarterfinal at this level and he will now face world No 6 Tomas Berdych. Serena Williams yesterday pulled out of the Hopman Cup in Perth due to a recurrence of knee issues, casting doubt on her defence of the Australian Open title later this month. That appeared a more serious development than Andy Murray’s 6-4, 7-6 defeat by Nick Kyrgios, which helped the Australia Green team defeat Great Britain 2-1 at the same event. Heather Watson beat world No 36 Daria Gavrilova 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 but in the deciding mixed doubles, with it gone midnight, the British pair went down 6-2, 6-7, 11-9. It means that GB will have to beat Germany tomorrow to have a chance of reaching the final. Since Murray is training hard during this event with an eye on Melbourne, his first ever defeat by the crowd-pleasing Kyrgios was not too much of a setback. His focus is to begin the Australian Open in prime physical shape.