In the second round of the BNP Paribas Open, the marquee night match between Veronika Kudermetova and Naomi Osaka quickly took a turn when a heckler shouted at Osaka early in the second set, leading the Japanese to begin crying as she tried to gather herself.
The 24-year-old Osaka spoke repeatedly with the chair umpire and a WTA supervisor who was called to the court. The former world No.1 asked for the heckler to be removed and also requested the microphone to make a mid-match announcement to the crowd. The supervisor said she would identify and remove the heckler if it continued and denied the request to address the crowd.