As Angelique Kerber battled back against the home-favorite Zhang Shuai in the opening round of China Open 2019, a violent scene broke out in the Beijing tournament as a Kerber was beaten up Shuai’s fan.

The match between the two WTA women was seesawing and a Kerber fan was sitting right beside Shuai’s box. As a typical tennis fan, the boy was cheering for Kerber and Shuai’s fan responded in an aggressive manner to his support for the German star. Shuai’s fan beat him up brutally. The Kerber fan was 19 years-old. 

The three-time Grand Slam champion, Kerber bounced back from a break down in the deciding set and defeated Shuai, and consequently, her home crowd fans turned violent in the Beijing Stadium.

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“I think it was a tough and tight match,” said Kerber. “I was just trying to play every single point at the end, and just trying to take my chances. That was the goal in the third set, and, of course, it’s great to be in the next round. The first round is always tough to get your rhythm, to come to the tournament, to feel the ball, to play matches. Of course, I’ll try to take the emotions and the confidence to the next round.”

Kerber’s run on the WTA Tour has been substandard since her Wimbledon defeat in July. She just won two matches since then and encountered a series of round one defeats over the past few weeks. In Beijing, Angelique Kerber will next face Polona Hercog in the round of 32.

Meanwhile, the top ten seeds in the women’s draw of China Open 2019 have progressed into the next round, which includes, Naomi Osaka, Elina Svitolina, and Simona Halep. However, the 14th seed and home-favorite, Wang Qiang suffered a loss to Ajla Tomljanovic.

On Monday, Belinda Bencic will be taking on Venus Williams. Madison Keys will play Karolina Muchova, Amanda Anisimova takes on her compatriot, Jennifer Brady and the reigning US Open champion, Bianca Andreescu plays Aliaksandra Sasnovich.