No. 28 seed Anna Kalinskaya complained about a group of disruptive and drunk Cincinnati Open spectators, which led to a funny moment with the chair umpire.
Playing in the Cincinnati round-of-16 for the first time in her career, the 26-year-old didn't make a good start as she lost the first set 3-6 to 12th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova.
However, there may have reason why Kalinskaya didn't feel sharp early on. At one point, she approached the chair umpire and very directly complained that some spectators her disrupting her with their behavior. After making her point clear, the Russian tennis star remarked to the chair umpire: I think maybe theyre drunk or something..." The umpire agreed with the world No. 34 but it came out in a hilarious way since he said: "They probably are."
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Kalinskaya pulled off a Cincinnati comeback against Alexandrova
After dropping the first set, Kalinskaya saved a break point in the first game of the second set. As no breaks were seen, the second set went into a tie-break, where the 26-year-old Russian realized her third set point to send the match into a decider.
The No. 28 seed winning a tight second set proved to be the game-changer since she routinely took the third set with three breaks.
Now, Kalinskaya is set for a major challenge since she plays against Iga Swiatek in the Cincinnati quarterfinal. A bit interestingly, the Russian has a winning head-to-head against the Polish tennis star giant since she won their lone meeting in 2024 Dubai with a 6-4 6-4 scoreline.
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It remains to be seen if the 28th-seeded Russian can make it 2-0 against Swiatek and make her first Cincinnati semifinal.
