Ostapenko Calls Giorgi's Father Out for Gamesmanship

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Ostapenko Calls Giorgi's Father Out for Gamesmanship

Jelena Ostapenko battled back from a break down in both sets to quiet Camila Giorgi, 7-5, 7-5, and reach the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time.

Muting Giorgi's father and coach, Sergio, proved to be more problematic.

Watch: 5 Wimbledon Stats You Did Not Know

The Roland Garros champion believes Giorgi's box, particularly her father, intentionally tried to disrupt her serve by shouting and coughing during her service motion.

"I was just trying to focus on my game and to be on the court," Ostapenko said. "It was just before my serve, somebody started to cough. I think it's a little bit, how you say, unsportsmanlike. You're in such a high level, and the tournament like Wimbledon, a Grand Slam, I think people have to understand where they are."

The 13th-seeded Ostapenko believes Sergio Giorgi was the primary noise-maker.

"(I was) a little bit (shocked), yes, because I think it was from her dad actually, or her box," Ostapenko said. "I mean, the people who are in her team, they're probably very close to tennis. They probably have to understand how to behave during the points or before the serve."

Ostapenko called the act of gamesmanship "pretty disappointing." But the coughing campaign did not stop her from rallying from a 3-5 first-set deficit and a 2-5 hole in the second to win her 10th consecutive major match.

"As I say, I was trying to be on the court, to not try to hear anything around," Ostapenko said. "But that was, like, I couldn't, how to say, I couldn't not hear it. It was just before my serve, after first serve and before second serve. That was pretty disappointing, yeah."

The 20-year-old Latvian, who will play fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina for a quarterfinal spot, had her share of vocal support with fans cheering for her using two different names: Alona, her birth name, and Jelena.

"I like both, Jelena, Alona. Alona everyone is saying who knows me, who knows that my real name is Alona," Ostapenko said. "Normally some people that just came to watch tennis, maybe they don't know that my name is Alona. But it was really nice to play on Court 2. I had a lot of supporters." Photo credit: Roland Garros

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