There was no love lost between Maria Sakkari and Yulia Putintseva after their meeting at the Bad Homburg Open.
Sakkari won the round of 32 match 7-5, 7-6(7-8), with the Greek player defeating the Kazakhstani player after two hours and 25 minutes.
The WTA 500 event has only just started in Germany, arriving shortly before Wimbledon gets underway this month.
But there has already been plenty of controversy, led by the fiery encounter on the grass between Sakkari and Putintseva.
It culminated in a tense exchange at the net after their meeting, with the duo very unhappy with one another for some time.
Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
And match winner Sakkari spoke of the incident on court after the clash, saying of Putintseva: “I don’t think she’s going to invite me for dinner for the rest of our lives but I don’t care to be honest.
“I have very good friends and I will go to dinner with them. Let me leave that here and say that I have respect for her as a player but that’s it.”
Maria Sakkari Wimbledon record after winning opener at Bad Homburg Open
Sakkari would love to be coached by Jessica Pegula, who currently occupies third place in the WTA rankings.
The former has, however, slipped all the way down to 86th place in the world, having once reached a career-high of three.
She has two WTA singles titles to her name, and will be looking for a deep run in Germany in a bid to gain momentum for Wimbledon.
Sakkari has only ever reached the third round of the grass court Grand Slam, but has reached the semi-finals of the French Open and the US Open.
Maria Sakkari Wimbledon results
Bad Homburg follows the Berlin Tennis Open and the Nottingham Open in the calendar, representing WTA 500 and 250 events respectively.
And it was Marketa Vondrousova who was successful at the former, with McCartney Kessler triumphing at the latter.