WATCH: Controversial scenes at Wuhan Open as interviewer cuts short Magda Linette's apology attempt over COVID-19 joke about city
Magda Linette was involved in a moment of controversy at the Wuhan Open as her post-match interview was cut short. The Pole had previously made a COVID-19-themed joke about the city and attempted to apologize to the crowd after her first-round win over Liudmila Samsonova.
Before the start of the tournament, Linette shared an image of a train from Beijing to Wuhan, with her caption in Polish translating to:
"The virus database has been updated."
For context, Wuhan is known to be the city where the COVID-19 outbreak started, and Linette's joke was not taken well by some, as some shouts were coming during her match against 11th seed Liudmila Samsonova. The Pole performed fine to beat the Russian 6-2, 6-2 to book her place in the third round of the Wuhan Open.
After the match, Linette tried to apologize to the crowd at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center, saying:
"I know that I offended some of you guys..."
At this moment, the interviewer asked the 32-year-old to talk about her performance, to which she said:
"Thank you for being still so nice to me. Thank you so much."
The interviewer then ended the interviewer, saying to the crowd in Chinese:
"That's all from us today. The game is over now."
Magda Linette will next take on Lesia Tsurenko at the Wuhan Open
After upsetting Liudmila Samsonova, Magda Linette will next take on Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko in the third round of the Wuhan Open. The World No. 96 beat Katie Boulter 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of the WTA 1000 event.
Linette and Tsurenko will lock horns for the fourth time on the WTA Tour, with the latter currently leading 2-1 in the head-to-head. However, the Pole came out on top the last time they met, in the first round of the Thailand Open 2, triumphing 6-2, 7-5.
Whoever out of Linette or Tsurenko comes out on top, will take on either eighth seed Daria Kasatkina or American qualifier Bernarda Pera in the third round of the Wuhan Open. If the Pole beats the Ukrainian, it will be the first time she will reach the third round of a WTA 1000 event this season.