Aryna Sabalenka has Wimbledon meltdown and smashes net with racket vs Laura Siegemund

Aryna Sabalenka throttled the net with her tennis racket during a tense deciding set against Laura Siegemund. Women's No.1 Sabalenka was put under serious pressure before eventually fighting her way past the underdog, and her emotions began to get the better of her as the match wore on.

Sabalenka was a break down and chasing the match in the third set when she began her service game at 3-1 to Siegemund. The Belarusian teed things up perfectly to win the point as Siegemund misjudged her drop shot and left a corridor wide open for Sabalenka to hit down the line.

Although she managed the hard work of getting to the ball, Sabalenka inexplicably hit the shot wide, drawing gasps from the crowd. Those gasps turned to rumblings of disapproval when Sabalenka responded by furiously smashing the top of the net.

BBC commentator Tracy Austin said: "That's what happens when Siegemund is so good at defence - players, opponents start to press too close to the lines out of respect."

The chair umpire had to settle the crowd down before the next point as Sabalenka sought to regain her composure after a fiery outburst. She did exactly that, holding her service game and then breaking Siegemund to muscle her way back into the decider.

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There were more twists and turns up ahead as the pair broke serve a staggering 14 times between them. But the dial eventually landed on a mightily relieved Sabalenka, who came through 4-6 6-2 6-4.

Sabalenka had not dropped a set en route to her meeting with Siegemund - a 37-year-old ranked outside the women's top 100 who has never been beyond the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam. Carson Branstine, Marie Bouzkova, Emma Raducanu and Elise Mertens all came up well short against the three-time major winner in the previous rounds.

Siegemund saw to that unblemished record in the very first set, and Sabalenka appeared to be battling with her emotions from then on. Her minor meltdown came after pre-match comments in which she outlined the need to 'stay focused' and avoid 'getting frustrated'.

"I've been facing a lot of tricky players," she said. "I think for me personally, the main thing is like not to over-rush and not to get frustrated by her game, and focus on myself.

"I know that if I'll be there, if I'll be focusing on myself and I'll be fighting for every point. I know that I have enough of a variety, I have strong game to handle those tricky shots."