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Reuters
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Britain’s Harriet Dart has apologized for saying her opponent, France’s Lois Boisson, “smells really bad” during her comprehensive defeat at the Rouen Open on Tuesday.
Dart, who lost 6-0, 6-3, was captured on the broadcast asking the umpire to tell Boisson to use deodorant, during a second-set changeover.
“Can you ask her to put on deodorant? She smells really bad,” Dart was heard saying to the official as she struggled against the 21-year-old Frenchwoman in the first round.
Harriet Dart of the UK returns to Donna Vekic of Croatia during their women’s singles match at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Jan. 15.
Photo: AP
The comment sparked an immediate backlash on social media, prompting Dart to address the incident on Instagram.
“It was a comment made in the heat of the moment and I truly regret it. It’s not the way I want to behave and I take full responsibility,” Dart wrote. “I have a lot of respect for Lois and the way she competed today. I’ll learn from this and move on.”
Boisson, who was already out on court while Dart was still seated, appeared to be out of earshot when the Briton made her remark.
Boisson gave a light-hearted response. She posted a photograph on Instagram of her on court with a Dove deodorant edited into the frame above her hand, tagging the company and writing that they “apparently need a collab.”
The victory marked a stunning upset for the 303rd-ranked Boisson, making her first WTA Tour appearance of the season following injury, against the 62nd-ranked Dart, who failed to convert any of her six break points and dropped her serve four times.
Meanwhile, at the Stuttgart Open, third seeds Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia lost their opening women’s doubles match 6-2, 3-6, 10-5 to Hungary’s Timea Babos and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with AP
