Defending champion Naomi Osaka threw her racket, tossed a ball and kicked the racket again for good measure, before sitting for a while with a towel over her head. She sensed the crowd was looking for drama, and she gave them a little bit.
She pulled it together quickly in a swirling breeze on Margaret Court Arena, though, and beat Zheng Saisai 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the third round of the Australian Open.
On the adjoining show court at about the same time, 2019 runner-up Petra Kvitova held her composure when she faced three set points before winning 13 of the next 15 points to beat Paula Badosa 7-5, 7-5.
Both of last year's finalists had secured spots in the third round before some of the women hadn't completed their first-round matches in the singles draw. A backlog caused by heavy rain on Day 1, caused a further spillover on Day 2.
On Day 3, the lineup on the show courts was full of major winners. French Open champion and No. 1-seeded Ash Barty had the second match on Rod Laver, the center court.
Osaka was unimpressed with her performance.
"I hope you guys like the tennis that's coming after my match," third-seeded Osaka told the crowd in an on-court interview, "because it wasn't that pretty."
I got really fired up when she was up ... and people started clapping more,
Because of suspended matches from rain on Monday, eight first-round women's singles matches were not completed Tuesday. There were several still in progress when
Osaka and Kvitova went through. Also advancing to the third round were No. 14-seeded Sofia Kenin, No. 18 Alison Riske,