Watch: Cameron Norrie hits fan with tennis racket flipped into stands; apologizes

Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Cameron Norrie flipped his tennis racket into the stands out of frustration, hitting a woman watching his ASB Classic match in Auckland. The British tennis star later apologized and said he was not happy with his behavior.

The incident occurred during the second set of his 6-2, 6-3 loss to Facundo Diaz Acosta on Monday in New Zealand.

"I was not meaning to do that and it is completely not me to do something like that," Norrie told reporters. "I apologized very quickly and I want to apologize in general. I'm not happy with how I behaved."

Norrie first hit a forehand return, which hit the top of the net while he trailed 5-3 in the second set. He responded by flailing his left arm, blindly flipping the racket into the stands behind the baseline.

The racket headed toward the woman spectator, who used her hands to avoid getting hit in the face.

Norrie, the No. 48 player in the ATP Tour singles rankings, walked toward the stands to check on the woman and apologized. He received a warning from the umpire.

"I wasn't meaning to do that, but it's still not ideal to be doing that and I've never done something like that," Norrie said. He said the fan was laughing about what happened.

"I just said 'so sorry, I didn't mean to do that,'" Norrie said. "And she said 'Yeah, I'm completely OK.'"

Diaz Acosta broke Norrie's serve five times in the two-set match. The No. 78 men's singles player will face fellow Argentine Sebastian Baez (No. 28) in the Round of 16 on Tuesday in Auckland.