Australian Open: Daria Gavrilova still stunned as punters turn on her after devastating loss to Elise Mertens

DARIA Gavrilova was forced to block people from commenting on her Instagram account today after the Aussie copped extreme heat from punters who had backed her to win in her stunning defeat.

Daria Gavrilova remonstrates with the umpire after her line call plea was rejected.

SAM Stosur has decried social media trolls after countrywoman Daria Gavrilova was the subject of abuse.

Gavrilova was forced to block people from commenting on her Instagram account after the local favourite copped extreme heat from punters who had backed her to win.

The world No.25 was this morning still in disbelief at a chair umpire’s call to not let her challenge a crucial point in her witching-hour loss to Belgian Elise Mertens.

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Gavrilova surrendered a 5-0 first-set lead to lose the match 7-5 6-3.

She later revealed “fans” had added further insult, posting: “Thanks everyone who keeps supporting me and for all your sweet messages! And ... shhh to all the betting people ... I copped it hard last night. Only people I follow can comment on my posts now..so my family doesn’t see all the `love’ I get.”

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Stosur, a WTA player council member, said she had limited her time on social media because of nasty people.

“My social media, I haven’t been on it for a while and there’s a reason for that because this type of stuff can happen,” Stosur said.

“I applaud Dash … I think a lot of it’s probably due to gambling in tennis, they obviously lose some money on you and they’re not happy about it and they take it out on Twitter, Instagram or whatever platform they can.”

Stosur says she feels disappointed people feel the need to be vicious.

“I never took a lot of it to heart and I didn’t read a lot of the comments anyway, I think I can be a big distraction a lot of the time anyway, positive or negative,” Stosur said.

“ … I don’t think people quite understand sometimes the effect it can have when you get someone writing really nasty things. Would you say it to them if you walked up to them on the street, face to face? Probably not.”

Daria Gavrilova argues her case with the umpire.

The feisty Australian this morning retweeted the host broadcaster’s video of the call, which occurred on Gavrilova’s serve when 2-4 down in the second set.

She appeared to raise her hand to challenge the call quickly, but the umpire ruled she took advice from her support box and was therefore denied the challenge.

The ball was in, and the point would have gone in Gavrilova’s favour had she been able to challenge the call.

“Thoughts? Honest thoughts?,” she posted above the video on Thursday morning.

She later revealed “fans” had added more insult to her injury, posting: “Thanks everyone who keeps supporting me and for all your sweet messages! And ... shhh to all the betting people ... I copped it hard last night. Only people I follow can comment on my posts now... so my family doesn’t see all the `love’ I get.”

Thoughts? Honest thoughts? https://t.co/IdNwVbIwXv

— Daria Gavrilova (@Daria_gav) January 17, 2018

Gavrilova told the umpire at the time she was looking up at the replay, not to her coach’s box and later explained she wasn’t sure why her challenge was denied.

“Well, I don’t know exactly the rule, but I challenged it within three seconds, so I wasn’t sure what was going on,” Gavrilova said.

“She said because my coach, that my coach told me to. He did go like that (putting finger up). That could have meant anything. Usually that means out. Normally when you’re told to challenge the ball, the coach would probably go like that (palms down).”

The match started moments before midnight, but Gavrilova said she supported the decision for the it to be played.

“It was a bit weird. But I’ve had this experience before. Obviously a few people had left. That was a bit different atmosphere. Still I felt the support from the crowd,” she said.

“ … it is frustrating. But that’s how it is … I was ready to go.”

The match did not begin until 11.59pm, the latest ever at Melbourne Park — owing to the five-set epic finally settled 8-6 between Grigor Dimitrov and Mackenzie McDonald, and the three matches that lasted more than two hours each preceding it.

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When it finally started, Gavrilova’s assertive brand of tennis and clean striking saw her race to a 5-0 lead and a repeat of her first-round 6-1 6-1 demolition of American qualifier Irina Falconi was on the cards.

But in an extraordinary collapse, she stopped to a standstill as Mertens woke from her slumber to take total control.

Mertens found her range and as the previously short exchanges became 18-shot rallies, the pressure told on Gavrilova and her errors suddenly flowed.

Mertens peeled off five consecutive games of her own to tie things up at 5-5.

In that time Gavrilova had blown eight set points and double-faulted twice facing break-point.

“That sucks,” Gavrilova said summing up her feelings succinctly.

“I can’t believe it got away from me but it just happened and it happened quickly.

“I’ve seen players lose before from 5-0 up and thought, surely they could have just hit a winner but clearly I couldn’t so it’s a new experience.”

The 23-year-old served 10 double faults for the match, while her unforced errors went through the roof with a total of 40.

She was rocked in the second set when, trailing 4-2, she tried to challenge an incorrect ruling but umpire Aurelie Tourte said she was too late and had looked to her box first.

“I raised my hand straight away,” Gavrilova said, with Toute replying: “No, you were waiting”.

Commentators described it as a “horrendous call”.

Daria Gavrilova challenges the line call, but it was to no avail.

Post-match Gavrilova said she had raised her hand within seconds although admitted her coach Jarryd Maher did signal.

“She said my coach told me to but he did go like that (pointed upwards with her finger) but that could have meant anything.”

The previous record for the latest starting match in Melbourne was between Grigor Dimitrov and Frenchman Richard Gasquet last year. That match began at 11.58pm.

In a strange twist, that match followed Gavrilova and Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky onto the court.

The latest finish to a match played at the Australian Open, or any grand slam, was in 2008 when Lleyton Hewitt and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis played a five-set match that finished at 4.33am.

Daria Gavrilova remonstrates with the umpire after her line call plea was rejected.