May 27 (UPI) -- Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu was fined $10,000, but not disqualified, for throwing her racket and hitting a boy in the stands during her second-round match at the 2022 French Open, tournament officials announced Friday.
A tournament release stated that the racket "brushed" the young spectator, who was not injured.
The incident occurred in the third set of Begu's 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 win Thursday in Paris. Begu, who was down a break at that point, walked toward her bench and spiked her racket down onto the clay court.
The racket ricocheted off the ground and veered into the stands, where it made contact with the boy. The boy started crying and was consoled by his parents and other fans in the section.
Begu went over to the area, spoke to the boy and took pictures near his family. She was given a code violation and allowed to play on against No. 30 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia.
"It was an embarrassing moment for me," Begu told reporters Thursday at her post-match news conference. "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."
Several players were previously disqualified from tournaments, including Grand Slams, for similar infractions, including: hitting fans, judges and ball boys and girls with rackets and balls.
Begu will face France's Leolia Jeanjean in the third round of the French Open on Saturday at Roland Garros. Jeanjean upset No. 8 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the second round.
The winner of the Begu-Jeanean match will battle No. 11 Jessica Pegula of the United States or No. 24 Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia in the fourth round.