Zhang had called for a review of a shot that she believed the line judge had wrongly called out. But in a shocking move, Toth was seen attempting to rub out the mark on the court left by the ball.
The Chinese veteran argued with the umpire for several minutes and seemed to call for tournament officials to make their judgement. But after seeing Toth rub out the mark with her shoe, Zhang fumed: “Wait, wait, wait, keep the mark! What are you doing? Why would you do that?”
Toth responded by saying: “Because you’re making problems, that’s why.”
Zhang was visibly distressed and ending up retiring, handing Toth a walkover. But the Hungarian received her comeuppance when she was defeated by Baindl in her home tournament.
After beating Toth 6-3 6-1, Baindl used her on-court interview to say: “I just want to say I hope they can stay fair and Shuai Zhang feels better and hopefully she is getting better and we will soon see her back,” Baindl said.
“She is an unbelievable player, very respectful and a great person. There is a lot to learn from her. I guess we should all stay respectful to each other, it does not matter what.”
Zhang, the World No 28 and the tournament’s second seed, walked off the court to harsh jeers. Baindl referenced that in her interview, asking for fairness to be restored.
The 34-year-old Zhang said afterwards: “All efforts on practice was wrong, because when you wanted hitting closer to the line, even touched the line, but still called OUT. I love you guys and all girls who supporting me and standing my side.”
Toth, meanwhile, denied that her actions were wrong despite strong condemnation from the tennis world. The 20-year-old said Zhang had “made trouble for herself”.
She said: “I don’t understand why she made such a fuss out of it, that she wanted to overrule the judge’s decision. I don’t understand why she didn’t accept it, but she made trouble for herself.”
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