‘She goes out on the chair, and now she’s in the locker room perfect’: Furious Sara Errani accuses Kiki Bertens of FAKING injury after she left court in a wheelchair following French Open win… and Italian even mocked her opponent during contest
- Kiki Bertens scraped through her second-round contest against Sara Errani
- Bertens finally prevailed 7-6 7-6 (5) 3-6 9-7 after three hours and 11 minutes
- However, there was plenty of controversy during the French Open contest
- Bertens left the court in a wheelchair following her victory on Wednesday
- Errani openly mocked her opponent and accused Bertens of faking injury
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 (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.
Kiki Bertens left the court in a wheelchair after prevailing against Sara Errani at French Open
Errani openly mocked her opponents’ injury during the fiery second-round contest
Errani, who after her defeat accused Bertens of faking injury, pretends to be injured
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 scraped through her second-round contest, beating Errani 7-6 (5) 3-6 9-7
Errani was left furious following her narrow defeat at Roland Garros on Wednesday
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.
She said: ‘It’s not my first time. If you follow me the last two years, I had many problems. There are days where it’s really bad, it’s very tough for me, so I just tried to compete with everything I have.’
Bertens laughed off Errani’s comments after sealing her progression to the third round