Harriet Dart apologises for telling opponent to ‘wear deodorant’ because ‘she smells really bad’

The British No 4 exited a tournament in Rouen in straight sets

Harriet Dart accused her opponent of smelling really bad (Getty)

Harriet Dart, the British No 4, complained about her opponent’s smell and said she needs to “wear deodorant” in a bizarre incident during a heavy defeat.

Dart suffered a straight-sets exit from the Rouen Open as Lois Boisson dominated a 6-0, 6-3 encounter.

But an occasionally ill-tempered affair saw tensions inflame when the 28-year-old asked the umpire to instruct Boisson to deal with her body odour.

“Can you tell her to wear deodorant?” Dart asked, in comments picked up on the microphones placed court-side early in the second set. “Because the smell,” Dart said. “Can you tell her to wear deodorant? She smells really bad.”

Boisson took just 28 minutes to secure the first set in an impressive performance after recent injury issues.

Dart also suffered a first-round defeat at the Charleston Open at the end of March, her first clay-court event of the season. She subsequently apologised on social media for her remarks.

“I want to apologise for what I said on court today,” Dart wrote. “It was a heat-of-the-moment comment that I truly regret. That’s not how I want to carry myself and I take full responsibility. I have a lot of respect for Lois and how she competed today. I’ll learn from this and move forward.”

To her credit, Boisson later made light of the incident, posting an edited photo on Instagram of her holding some deodorant and telling toiletries company Dove that they "apparently need a collab".

Dart had been part of the Great Britain squad that secured progress into the Billie Jean King Cup Finals this weekend, featuring in the doubles rubber against Germany.

Elina Svitolina is the top seed competing at the WTA event in Rouen, with Dart’s GB teammate Sonay Kartal seeded eighth after performing strongly in recent months to rise up the rankings.

Elsewhere, Cameron Norrie suffered a first-round exit at the Barcelona Open following a 6-7 (3) 6-4 6-3 defeat to world number 27 Karen Khachanov.

British No 3 Norrie, who has dropped to 88 in the ATP rankings, saved a set point en route to taking a tight opening set on a tie-break.

Having lost the opening three games of set two, the 29-year-old qualifier looked on course for the last 16 after going 4-3 ahead with a break of serve.

But Russian Khachanov immediately hit back before securing progression in two hours and 18 minutes to set up a meeting with Spaniard Jaume Munar.

Carlos Alcaraz, meanwhile, overcame a fighting performance from American youngster Ethan Quinn to advance to the round of 16.