'It's a disgrace': Aussie in 'furious' on-court spat with controversial rival

Aussie superstar Ajla Tomljanovic has made it into the last-16 of Wimbledon in a three-set win litterd with arguments and a 'disgraceful' act that prompted accusations of lying.

Tomljanovic defeated controversial Jelena Ostapenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 but the match was marred after some ugly back-and-forth from the pair as the Latvian used a controversial Medical Time Out when she was about to lose.

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At 4-0 in the third set, Ostapenko called for a TMO.

The Latvian hadn't been showing any signs of an injury, which prompted Tomljanovic to question why she was calling for the trainer.

The furious Tomljanovic protested, telling the chair umpire Fiona Edwards: "You know she's lying, right ... we all know".

Tomljanovic, who was about to serve next, demanded to see the supervisor, explaining that she had not had the same privilege of being allowed to leave the court in similar circumstances when playing a match at Birmingham recently.

But the supervisor told the Australian that Ostapenko had been within her rights to get treatment at the changeover.

When the world No.34 Ostapenko was given dispensation to exit the court with the trainer for treatment, it left a stunned Tomljanovic to stew on her own on Court 15.

But the drama didn't end there.

Tomljanovic was left complaining to Edwards that her Latvian opponent then seemed to take too long to get back to their outside court from the treatment room.

The clock at court side timing down Ostapenko's return mysteriously stopped, leaving the Australian to ask: "Why has the clock stopped?".

Ostapenko eventually returned to court, but eventually fell to the Australian 6-2.

Ajla Tomljanovic and Ostapenko argument spills over

After the loss, Ostapenko put her racquet away and didn't immediately approach the net to congratulate her opponent.

The Australian thanked the crowd in the meantime, before meeting Ostapenko at the net.

But the pair only reignited the ugly spat.

Ostapenko took aim at Tomljanovic and said: "Your behaviour is terrible, terrible!”

But the Aussie hit back and said: “You’re the one to talk!”

Before Ostapenko finished: “You have zero respect, yes?”

Fans on social media couldn't believe the level of bad blood between the pair, which overshadowed one of Tomljanovic's biggest career wins.

Some were also critical of Ostapenko's MTO.

Ostapenko then went as far to claim the Aussie was the "worst player on tour".

Wimbledon spat explodes at presser

The row then joined the pantheon of Wimbledon's great bust-ups after the match on Saturday as the pair traded more barbs and insults separately in the press conference room.

Ostapenko said if she was even at 50 per cent she would have defeated the Australian.

"In my opinion it was very, very disrespectful from her side, because every single player who is playing tennis or any other sports can get injured," said Ostapenko afterwards, adamant that she had been struggling with the injury from the second set.

"How can you say 'liar' or something if you know zero about — maybe I already had this injury before. Maybe it's not new pain or something.

"You cannot say that. In front of everybody, call me liar? I don't think it's respectful from her side. So that's what I said, the very bad player because of this behaviour. That's it. You are winning, but it does not mean you can do everything you want."

Her comments drew a withering response from Tomljanovic.

"She can say she was injured. I don't think she was. There was nothing wrong with her the whole match, but then why on 4-0 she calls it?" the Brisbane player said.

"I have played many people. I know when someone is injured and when they're not.

"Then to top it all off, for her to call me disrespectful at the end of the match is just laughable.

"I think it's disgraceful behaviour from someone who's a slam champion, because kids look at her and, what, they see that?

"I'm sorry, if she was injured, she could have gone about it in a way better way.

"My feelings towards winning exceeds any drama that happened, because for me it's a huge moment in my career."

Tomljanovic advanced and will take on British teen sensation Emma Raducanu, whose dream debut run continued with a win over Romania's Sorana Cirstea.

with AAP

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