A professional tennis match descended into farce when one of the players appeared unable to play even recreational tennis.

Monday’s match between an unknown Egyptian named Hajar Abdelkader and Lorena Schaedel – a German ranked just outside the world’s top 1,000 – will go down as one of the most one-sided contests in professional tennis history.

It ended 6-0, 6-0 to Schaedel and lasted 37 minutes, in which the German player conceded three points: two double faults and an unforced error.

The gulf in quality in the International Tennis Federation-sanctioned W35 event in Nairobi was evident in the warm-up and then early in the match, Abdelkader had to be told by her opponent where she should stand while serving.

At one point in the opening game, Abdelkader threw the ball above her head and behind her in the ball toss while her opponent waited patiently at the other end. Abdelkader struggled to serve properly, frequently landing the ball on her side of the court. She landed just eight per cent of her first serves and made 20 double faults in the contest.

Although not part of the WTA Tour, W35 events – which used to be known as “Futures” tournaments as a reflection of their developmental role – are part of the second-tier ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour. A W35 tournament offers total prize money of $ 30,000.

As a comparison, the most recent W35 held in the UK – which was staged in Birmingham in October – was contested by some of the most promising players in the country and was won by Mika Stojsavljevic, the 2024 US Open junior champion who is currently ranked 291.

However, these second-tier events are distributed around the world, and every fringe player knows that there are certain areas – typically in Africa and the Middle-East – where the standard is considerably weaker.

Ultimately, it is up to local organisers to vet entrants to such tournaments. On occasion, there are insufficient applicants, and then anyone who signs in can occupy one of the vacant spaces, whether or not they have a track record in the game.

Such mismatches can present integrity issues, however, as betting companies collect data from second-tier events and punters stake money even on these less prestigious matches.

Telegraph Sport have contacted the International Tennis Federation for comment.