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Laura Siegemund marched to the umpire's chair and complained after she was told to hit her first serve again during a tight clash with Aussie qualifier Maddison Inglis. The German ace is known for running down the shot clock on both serve and return, and often has a lengthy routine before she serves. Siegemund was given a time violation at 5-5 in the second set.

Then, in the same game, she fired down a serve while Inglis was not ready to receive, and had her arms up. Australian Open chair umpire Alison Hughes immediately announced another first serve, and Siegemund was unimpressed.

"Hang on, there's going to be drama here," commentator Catherine Whitaker said. "What's happened is Siegemund served when Inglis wasn't ready, and Alison Hughes has said, 'No, you need to take that again'."

The fans inside the ANZ Arena started jeering as Siegemund yelled at the umpire from afar. The world No. 48 then marched to the chair and asked the official: "You gave me a serve miss?"

Hughes said it was "different", but Siegemund wasn't happy. "Ah okay, so if she's not ready, it's okay? It's unbelievable, and if I don't serve, you give me a missed serve," she continued.

The umpire tried to explain her call again but the 37-year-old interjected and said: "No, wait, wait a minute. If I don't serve, you give me a missed serve. If I say she wasn't ready, you will say, 'I didn't see it'.

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Hughes replied: "She wasn't ready, she had her hand up." Siegemund argued that she didn't see Inglis and was watching the cloth, and the umpire added: "I know but she wasn't ready so it's going to be a first serve."

Siegemund asked what the umpire wanted her to do in that situation. "You just carry on. Watch the clock and do what you're doing," Hughes replied before she was cut off again.

"Oh but if I serve an ace, I have to plead to your grace?" the German asked, before finally retreating to the baseline to continue the match.

Whitaker told viewers: "So Laura Siegemund is saying, Look, you gave me a time violation, so I'm trying to serve quickly. But I think she... she knows what she's doing."

Inglis went on to win in a final set, first-to-10-point tiebreak, coming back after Siegemund served for the match.