Irina-Camelia Begu narrowly avoids Roland Garros default after outburst sends racquet flying off court

WATCH: Begu's racquet spirals into the stands, frightening a young spectator.

Tennis’ worrying trend of unchecked outbursts hit the WTA at Roland Garros on Thursday when Irina-Camelia Begu sent a racquet flying off court during a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4 win over Ekaterina Alexandrova.

The Romanian, who was trailing Alexandrova 0-2 in the deciding set, threw her racquet to the ground as she walked towards her chair; the racquet took a shockingly bad bounce, which sent it into the stands and close to a young fan.

“It's an embarrassing moment for me, so I don't want to talk too much about it,” she said after the match. “I just want to apologize. My whole career I didn't do something like this, and I feel really bad and sorry. So, I'm just going to say again, sorry for the incident and, yeah, it was just an embarrassing moment for me.”

As the child cried from shock, the supervisor was called to court before it was decided that Begu would not be defaulted from the match. Alexandrova was shocked by the incident, and picked up her own code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct—the charge ultimately levied against Begu—in protest.

“I didn't want to hit that racquet, you know. It was—you know, you hit the clay with the racquet, but you never expect to fly that much. It was, as I said, embarrassing moment for me and I just want to end it and not talk about it and apologizing again.”

I just want to apologize. My whole career I didn't do something like this, and I feel really bad and sorry. So, I'm just going to say again, sorry for the incident and, yeah, it was just an embarrassing moment for me. Irina-Camelia Begu

A former world No. 22, Begu would go on to win six of the next eight games to reach the third round, where French wildcard Leolia Jeanjean stands between her the fourth round, the deepest she’s gone at a major since Roland Garros in 2016.

Following the match, Begu took a picture with the frightened child as a means of making amends, but as she was pressed further on the issue by journalists, she was reticent to discuss the outburst in detail.

“Again, can we move on? Because I will answer the same thing. I'm just saying I'm sorry and that's it.”

Fans have become increasingly turned off by the rash of dangerous outbursts, including one earlier this week from Andrey Rublev; after losing the opening set of his first round against Kwon Soon-woo, the Russian knocked a ball with such force that it blew a hat clear off a ball boy’s head.

Other major incidents include Daniil Medvedev’s verbal abuse of a chair umpire at the Australian Open, Alexander Zverev’s default from an ATP tournament in Mexico, Nick Kyrgios’ racquet abuse at the BNP Paribas Open, and unsportsmanlike conduct from both Jordan Thompson and Jenson Brooksby at the Miami Open.