Daria Saville has claimed that Jelena Ostapenko would have known how to handle the climate protestors who disrupted the semi-final clash between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova at the US Open.

Australian tennis player Saville had an amusing response to the incident that caused a 49-minute delay in the middle of Gauff and Muchova's match at Flushing Meadows. The 19-year-old American star had won the first set and was 1-0 up in the second when three climate activists in the crowd stood up and started yelling "End Fossil Fuels!"

While the first two protestors were removed from the venue, the third had glued their bare feet to the floor, meaning a long delay ensued as the players returned to the locker room. Eventually, though, play resumed and Gauff won in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.

In the wake of the incident, fans took to social media to express their thoughts. Several made reference to the situation where the twentieth seed Ostapenko successfully got an unruly spectator removed from the stands during her third-round match.

"Someone call Ostapenko," wrote one fan on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This earned a response from Saville, who was ousted by top seed Iga Swiatek in the second round of this year's New York major.

"I love tennis twitter hahhaha. she would have handled the situation :D," the 29-year-old replied.

Other fans expressed their agreement:

"Lmfaooo literally! She would’ve sorted that situation in seconds," commented one.

"Hahah she would definitely sort them out," added another.

"with her [Ostapenko] this guy would have lost his feet," wrote a third.

Ostapenko went on to have a good run at the tournament, defeating Swiatek in the Round of 16 before being defeated by Gauff in the quarter-finals.

Gauff will go on to face Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the US Open.