Paula Badosa under fire for appearing to mock Asian people following China Open exit as Spaniard breaks silence

Paula Badosa came under fire on Sunday as she appeared to mock Asian people with her gestures which resulted in her offering an apology. She clarified that she never did it to offend and expressed regret.

Her coach Paul Toledo posted a photo dump on his Instagram. One of the pictures showed the former World No.2 pulling her eyelids back with chopsticks. This led to fans believing that she was mocking the eyes of Southeast Asians.

She commented on the post explaining that she was just 'playing around' with her face and meant no malice by it expressing her love for Asian people.

"Oh no please don't get it that way. Never thought it would get interpreted this way we weren't even imitating Asian people. I was playing around with my face and wrinkles. I love Asia one of my favorite people and have plenty of Asian friends. They are the kindest," she wrote.

It is a pretty poor end to a great week for Badosa who began her Asian Swing by reaching the semi-finals losing to Coco Gauff at the China Open. She scored a dominant win over Viktoriya Tomova, followed by wins over Rebecca Sramkova, Jessica Pegula, Zhang Shuai before finally facing the American.

But this loss was no bad thing as the American went on to rout Karolina Muchova in the final who many thought was one of the best players if not the best in Beijing this past week.