WATCH: Marta Kostyuk furious at umpire after Aryna Sabalenka halts play in rain-hit Madrid Open quarter-finals

Tennis star Aryna Sabalenka has stormed into the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open 2025 clash. The world number one defeated Marta Kostyuk with a scoreline of 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) to storm into the last four rounds of the clay court event. The Ukrainian star looked great on the tour, but her run ended after world number one toppled her in the quarter-finals.

Surprisingly, the top two WTA stars' intriguing quarter-final clash saw a moment of big controversy. Marta Kostyuk was seen in a heated animated chat with the chair umpire during the game. The Ukrainian star's frustration boils over after the weather becomes worse in the Spanish capital, Madrid, which leads to a pause for some time.

Controversial scenes erupted in the Madrid Open quarter-final clash!

During the game, Sabalenka was seen halting the play despite leading the game by 5-4 in the second set of the play. The Belarusian was seen talking to the chair umpire and urged them to stop a game due to rain after she missed her first serve. However, the umpire confronted her and said that the rain hadn't started and requested her to get back on the court to resume her game.

Thereafter, Sabalenka repeatedly requested the umpire to stop the play while stating that rain was falling in her eyes and she was having trouble. Sabalenka refused to play the game, which led the umpire to stop for a brief time. Following this, the Ukrainian star seems furious over the umpire's decision to allow the world number one to be on the first serve when the game resumed.

Watch the video here:

Aryna Sabalenka wants to stop play because of the rain, serving at 4-5 in the tiebreak in Madrid.

She missed her first serve, then asks the umpire about the rain.

Umpire: “I don’t think it’s that bad yet to stop. We can still play a bit.”

Aryna walks back to hit a second… pic.twitter.com/ZaOjaq0VgQ

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 30, 2025

"She was waiting for five minutes to serve! And then she started to serve again—how is this possible? Why is it first serve again?" Kostyuk told the umpire.

"But wait, she stopped by herself—nobody stopped her. It was like two minutes when she served first time, and then she stopped. She could have served ten times, and she voluntarily stopped. You told her she has to keep going, and she stopped by herself again, by herself. She said, 'I do not serve.' Nobody stopped her," she added.

Also WATCH: Marta Kostyuk unleashes most absurd ace, stuns both her opponent and Madrid Open crowd into disbelief