Two female tennis players fight in front of the Rogers Cup audience

After losing the first set 4-6, Sakkari was 1-2 in the second set and took the serve. The number eight player in the world served a broken ball early in the game. In an inhibited mentality, she caught Collins' return ball by slamming the ball to the ground. The ball then bounced into the stands, not hitting anyone. Sakkari immediately raised her hand to apologize to the fans sitting near the place where the ball fell, implying that she did not mean it.

Across the field, Collins wants Sakkari punished. She shouted to the referee: "Do you see what just happened?". By law, a player can be disqualified if the ball hits anyone in the stands, when it is not in the ball situation.

Sakkari heard it, she shouted back: "The ball didn't hit anyone. It even fell to the ground first". Collins interrupted his opponent, telling Sakkari: "Shut up. Shut up".

Sakkari replied, "Do you have a problem with me?", then went on to explain that she didn't hit anyone. Across the field, Collins said that Sakkari's actions were dangerous for fans. After the referee waved his hand to calm the situation, the two players continued to play.

Sakkari was distracted by an argument with an opponent and lost the game of service, leading 1-3. Despite winning the next ball game, the Greek player lost two more serving games and lost the game 4-6, 2-6. Collins meets Leylah Fernandez in the next round.

On Twitter, tennis journalist Ben Rotherberg supported Collins, saying that the referee should be more strict with the behavior of hitting the ball or throwing the racquet in the stands.

Tennis has seen a number of disqualifications for accidentally hitting someone present on the court. At the US Open 2020, Novak Djokovic was disqualified from the tournament when he hit the umpire in the fourth round match against Pablo Carreno Busta. At this year's Roland Garros, the pair Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified for hitting the ball girl after finishing the ball.