Naomi Osaka bursts into tears after being heckled at Indian Wells

Naomi Osaka has burst into tears during her straight-sets defeat to Veronika Kudermetova at Indian Wells.

Early in the first set, with Kudermetova serving at 1-0, a woman called out to Osaka, rattling the 24-year-old.

Clearly distracted, Osaka lost her next service game to fall 3-0 behind in the game before approaching umpire Paula Vieira Souza to ask if she could «borrow» her microphone to address the crowd.

Osaka then spoke to WTA match referee Clare Wood at the change of ends, wiping away tears as she did so.

After a short delay, during which Russian world number 24 Kudermetova kept loose on court, Osaka rose from her seat to cheers from the crowd.

Wood appeared to tell Vieira Souza to intervene if she heard any undue comments from the crowd.

Despite earning two break points in the fourth game, the former world number one went on to lose the first set 6-0.

She went on to lose the second, 6-4.

At the conclusion of the match, Osaka spoke to the crowd, breaking down in tears as she did so.

«I just want to say thank you,» Osaka said.

«I feel like I've cried enough on camera,» she added, wiping away tears.

«To be honest, I've gotten heckled before and it didn't really bother me but it's … like, heckled here…

»I've watched a video of Venus and Serena [Williams] getting heckled here — if you've never watched it, you should watch it — and I don't know why but it went into my head and got replayed a lot.

«I just wanted to say thank you and congratulations [to Kudermentova].»

Serena Williams was booed in the final of the 2001 Indian Wells competition after accusations from Elena Dementieva that Williams' father, Richard Williams, «manipulated» the draw.

Venus withdrew from the semi-final against her younger sister just minutes before it was