The China Mail - Putintseva sings rabbit song to shut out 'disrespectful' fans

The unseeded Kazakh came through the drama 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 but had to put up with fans screaming and coughing at crunch moments.

At the end of the match in Melbourne she was booed during her entire on-court interview.

"Today I think was really a lot of disrespectful moments when they were screaming between my first and second serve. Like really loud, like just to make me make a mistake," she told reporters later.

"In the game, I think it was 4-3, was a big point, and I opened the court very good. I take my forehand, the guy just started coughing just for my shot.

"I'm very happy that I kept my calm because Yulia last year would probably throw something at them."

After reaching her first Australian Open fourth round, 31-year-old Putintseva turned to the vocal crowd and placed her hand to her ear, a gesture that immediately drew a chorus of boos.

Undeterred, she began dancing before enduring more whistles and jeering during her on-court interview.

Moscow-born Putintseva said she shut out the noise by singing a Russian song.

"It is very old-school, from old, old movies. The song is about rabbits," she said.

"It has nothing to do with anything. It's just about rabbits who eat the grass. I was like distracting myself with this.

"I haven't seen this movie since my childhood," she added. "I think I watched it last time when I was 14.

"I was just singing the song in my head, and I didn't know why. Usually I like Taylor Swift, and, I don't know, The Weeknd, and here it comes like a rabbit song."

K.Leung--ThChM