Little known Hungarian player Amarissa Toth has apologised for erasing a ball mark during her Hungarian Grand Prix match against Zhang Shuai, with the disputed line call leading to the Chinese world number 28 to retire from the contest in tears.
On Tuesday, second seed Zhang hit a crosscourt forehand that appeared to land on the line but was called out by the line judge. The chair umpire then stepped down to take a look at the mark and confirmed the ball had landed outside the line.
Zhang looked visibly distressed during the changeover and a physio was called to check on her before she opted to retire while trailing 6-5 in the opening set of their round of 32 match in Budapest. Toth's behaviour was swiftly condemned by fellow players and greats such as Martina Navratilova on social media, with Zhang taking to Instagram to complain about the call and thanked those who supported her."I did not think that my first ever WTA main draw success of my career would cause such a storm," Toth said in a statement uploaded to the tournament's Facebook page after her defeat to Ukraine's Kateryna Baindl on Thursday.
"I do realise I shouldn’t have celebrated the way I celebrated after the match and I’m sorry for that. I was acting in the heat of the match and got caught up by my emotions and the moment. I focused on tennis, I didn’t want to win like that."
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