"Andrea Petkovic was also very surprised the umpire allowed that" - Iga Swiatek fans call out Amanda Anisimova's 'weird' bathroom break at WTA Finals

Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek were in the middle of a fierce battle in the final group stage match of the WTA Finals in Riyadh. However, the American took a break in the middle of a set, leaving many fans surprised.

Anisimova took a toilet break just before Swiatek's serve. As far as the rules are concerned, the WTA rulebook says that a player is allowed one toilet break during a match. However, the break must be taken on a set break and should not be used for any other purpose like changing clothes, cooling down and medical reasons.

If a player requests a toilet break at any other time, the chair umpire has the discretion to allow her to grant an "emergency toilet break." Meanwhile, the opponent must not warm up during that time.

This has led to a flurry of reactions from fans and most of them were livid with the break from Anisimova.

"Shady tactics? Anisimova went to the bathroom mid set today, right before Iga's serve," one fan wrote. "Why is there a break in a match in a middle of a set? Imagine Iga taking a bathroom break before an opponent's serve. Novels would have been written about it," another fan added. "Did Amanda just go to the bathroom mid set?? before iga’s service game?" one fan wrote. "That's so weird. Iga will get criticized if she is the one who did that," one fan commented. "(Andrea Petkovic) Petko was also very surprised that the umpire allowed that," one fan revealed. "Did Amanda just go to the toilet in the middle of the set? Before Iga serves? WTAF?" another fan said.

Iga Swiatek crashes out of WTA Finals after losing against Amanda Anisimova

Iga Swiatek started her WTA Finals campaign with an easy win against Madison Keys. She was also looking strong Elena Rybakina in her second group stage match before the second set. Rybakina completely dominated World No. 2 in the final two sets to win the match and push Swiatek at the brink of elimination.

Her match against Anisimova was supposed to be a virtual quarterfinal for her as she needed to win this in order to advance out of Serena Williams' group stage.

The American defeated Swiatek 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2 in a winner-takes-all match in Riyadh. Swiatek has now been eliminated from the tournament.

Edited by Krutik Jain