Coco Vandeweghe provided the ugly headlines in a day to forget for the USA

AMERICAN CoCo Vandeweghe launched a vulgar spray at her opponent before a war of words erupted in an ugly spat.

CoCo Vandeweghe and Timea Babos had a first round to remember, not for the right reasons.

TIMEA Babos took aim at world No. 9 CoCo Vandeweghe after the American drowned in a pool of petulance in the first round of the Australian Open, beaten in straight sets in what has been a shocking day for the US.

Babos, now ranked 51st in the world, enjoyed her first career win against a top-10 opponent as other American big names Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens suffered shock losses in Melbourne.

Babos won 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 and watched as her opponent had a meltdown at the end of the first set because there were no bananas on court, slapped with a code violation for delaying the game as she refused to start the second set until fruit was brought to her.

🇺🇸 @CoCoVandey not happy that 🍌 weren't available at the end of the 1st set. She receives a code violation for delaying the game. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/EbTvJp9h0N

— #7TENNIS 🎾 (@7tennis) January 15, 2018

Vandeweghe lost her cool again after going down 5-1 in the second set, bouncing her racquet on the court and appearing to swear at the Hungarian. She copped a point penalty for her second code violation of the match.

Many on social media claimed Vandeweghe said: “F*** off you f***ing b***h.” She said in her post-match media conference Babos was being very “in your face with her c’mons” and she wanted to let the umpire know she thought the 24-year-old was taunting her.

A second code violation for 🇺🇸 @CoCoVandey and she receives a point penalty! #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/QYTaCjw6bk

— #7TENNIS 🎾 (@7tennis) January 15, 2018

But Babos denied any wrongdoing, saying Vandeweghe had it all wrong.

“If she would have looked at my matches I’m always like this. It’s never against my opponent, it was never to her face, it was to my box or when it was an incredible point it was to the crowd,” Babos said in her post-match press conference.

“It was not against her, it’s against my personality. I’m crazy on court but not in a negative way, I’m just like this (animated).”

Babos said Vandeweghe was up to her antics “as always” and slighted her opponent’s loose temperament, saying she can’t complain about receiving a point penalty because umpires don’t just hand them out for nothing.

She also suggested Vandeweghe insulted her when she appeared to swear and raised the possibility the 26-year-old’s erratic behaviour may have been a tactic to distract her, although she hoped that wasn’t the case.

“She always does that (loses her temper),” Babos said. “A couple of racquets are broken every match, this time it was I believe a time violation, but I’m not sure. The second one I believe was an insult against me. If the umpire heard it then it must have been this.

“I was 0-40 in that game then I came back and I think it was an important moment. You don’t get a point penalty immediately so I think it must have been bad. Even after the first set she was sitting for 10 minutes and I didn’t know what was happening but I tried to stay focused and not to buy the big things happening around (Vandeweghe’s end of the court).

“You’re prepared with her — anything can happen.

“Certain players do it on purpose. Maybe her emotions are not always like that so she doesn’t do it on purpose but still it distracts you and it’s just bad.

It was a drama filled first round encounter`.

“If someone insults me I don’t think it’s not on purpose so this has to be like that but as I said she always does this — she has a lot of emotions, it’s difficult to control it.

“I hope she doesn’t do it on purpose.”

Vandeweghe complained about Hisense Arena being “ill prepared” when she had no bananas to eat before the start of the second set.

“How are they not on court? I mean, c’mon that’s not my fault,” she said during an argument with the chair umpire.

“Why do I have to play under a different set of rules. I don’t have to make myself uncomfortable because it’s ill prepared.

“I have needs and it’s not my fault that this court is ill prepared.”

She said after her loss it was “no big deal” but was clearly bemused as to why she was penalised.

Vandeweghe was suffering from a severe bout of the flu — which she said made it difficult to breathe — and said her request for a delayed first round encounter because of her illness fell on deaf ears.

Her unexpected defeat contributed to a fall from grace for many of the biggest stars in US tennis, as three of the four women who played in the semi-finals of last year’s US Open were bundled out on day one.

Williams went down 6-3 7-5 to the classy Belinda Bencic, who helped Switzerland win the Hopman Cup alongside Roger Federer earlier this year.

For the first time in 21 years a Williams sister won’t compete in the second round.

Stephens cruised through the first set of her clash against World No. 36 Shuai Zhang from China but then it all fell apart for the reigning US Open champion, eventually losing 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 2-6.

It continues a horror recent run for the 24-year-old, who has been unable to win a match in five tournaments — including the Fed Cup final — since her spectacular triumph at Flushing Meadows last September.

Most recently, World No. 100 Camila Giorgi skewered her in straight sets in the opening round of the Sydney International in an ominous sign of what was to come in Melbourne.

But Stephens is remaining optimistic, saying she wouldn’t call her form slump “tough times”.

“Nothing’s going wrong. Just the first two tournaments of the year. And it happens. I’m sure it’s happened to other players as well,” she said.

“As I said, not going to get too down. There’s many more tournaments to play, and a long season ahead.

“It will be OK. There’s always going to be times when it’s really tough and there will be times when you’re on an extreme high. I think for me now it’s not that great, but it’s nothing to panic about, guys.”

Alison Riske, Sofia Kenin and Taylor Townsend were among the other Americans to bow out early, while 16th seed John Isner was stunned by Aussie Matthew Ebden in four sets.