Zheng Qinwen courted controversy during her fourth round win against Marta Kostyuk at the Indian Wells Open, on Wednesday. During the warm-up before the match began, Kostyuk was hitting volleys, but suddenly had to stop as her Chinese opponent refused to continue, despite time being left on the clock.
Kostyuk seemed psychologically rattled by the moment and could only react in utter confusion. The Ukrainian ended up losing the match, 3-6 2-6.
What happened during the warm-up routine between Zheng Qinwen and Marta Kostyuk at Indian Wells?
The incident happened with one minute and 40 seconds left on the warm-up clock, and then suddenly Qinwen was sending lob shots to her opponent, so she could get some volley practice. Then suddenly, Qinwen decided to stop it and wanted to start serving.
Kostyuk, who was confused by the bizarre behavior, complained to the chair umpire, who intervened and the warm-up clock was reset, and asked Qinwen to continue with the warm-ups.
In reaction to the incident, tennis legend Boris Becker was left shocked and was at a loss for words. He reacted to a tweet, which explained the incident, and simply wrote, “What ?!?”
Qinwen will now face Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals, and Pole is already a two-time Indian Wells champion.
Swiatek has been in impressive form throughout the tournament and lost only six games going into the quarters. In a sensational campaign, she has already overpowered Caroline Garcia, Dayana Yastremska and Karolina Muchova.
Meanwhile, Qinwen is in her first quarterfinal this year, and has not lost a set in the tournament, where he has defeated Victoria Azarenka, Lulu Sun and Kostyuk.
Her resurgence is due to the return of her coach Pere Riba, who recently underwent a hip surgery in November and could not train with Zheng. He was present when she clinched gold at the Paris Olympics last year, and the run saw her beat Swiatek in the semi-finals. Despite that, Swiatek still has the edge over her opponent and leads 6-1 in terms of head-to-head.
