Wednesday 30 September 2020 19:17, UK
Kiki Bertens left the court in a wheelchair after scraping into the third round of the French Open and was then accused of faking injury by opponent Sara Errani.
Fifth-seed Bertens and qualifier Errani, a former finalist at Roland Garros, played a wild match before the Dutchwoman finally prevailed 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 9-7 after three hours and 11 minutes.
There were 24 breaks of serve and Bertens saved a match point before taking her third chance and falling to the court, where full body cramps took over.
Errani, who had earlier appeared to mock her opponent's struggles by grabbing at her leg, left the court without acknowledging the stricken Bertens and did not hold back in her press conference.
The Italian said: "I don't like when somebody is joking on you. She played an amazing match, but I don't like the situation. For one hour she's injured, then she run like never. I don't like that.
"She goes out of the court on the chair, and now she's in the locker room perfect, in the restaurant. I don't like these things.
"Then after people say to me that I'm an unfair person. It's funny for me these things. I don't think she did a good attitude on court. I didn't like that."
Bertens laughed off Errani's comments, saying: "She can say whatever she feels like but maybe I should take some more acting classes or should pursue a career in that.
"I'm not sure what she's thinking, but, no, I didn't feel really good on court.
"I don't want to try to take it too personal because I also know her frustrations. I think she's also frustrated with herself that she could not close out that match."
Errani was not helped by problems with her ball toss and was warned several times for taking too long after throwing it up and catching it repeatedly.
"It's not my first time. If you follow me the last two years, I had many problems," she said.
"There are days where it's really bad, it's very tough for me, so I just tried to compete with everything I have."
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