Emma Raducanu has drawn criticism from tennis fans after a controversial medical timeout late in her second-round loss at the Linz Open on Tuesday.
The US Open champion was knocked out of the WTA event in stunning scenes, losing 1-6, 7-6 (7-0), 5-7 to World No.106 Wang Xinyu.
The 18-year-old top seed, who has since announced Torben Beltz as her new coach, stunned the tennis world in September when she became the first qualifier ever to win a major.
But in her third tournament since the Flushing Meadows success, the British teenager struggled from the start against the 20-year-old Chinese qualifier who galloped through the first set as Raducanu battled with her serve.
The Briton was far from her most fluent in the second set but made short work of Wang in the tiebreaker, winning it 7-0.
But Wang stayed with Raducanu in the decider, breaking to go 5-4 up and serving for the match.
After two further breaks, Wang again served for the match, this time closing it out after two hours and 36 minutes on court.
Raducanu was visibly struggling with injury late in the match and took a controversial medical timeout before Wang served at 5-4.
Fans took to social media to condemn the move, with some of the belief that Raducanu was simply trying to break Wang’s momentum.
However others defended the 18-year-old and argued she was clearly injured.
