Britain’s Harriet Dart said the atmosphere during her Australian Open second-round defeat was “like a football match” and called for greater “respect” from fans.

Lucky loser Dart, who only discovered she had a place in this year’s main draw one hour before her opening match on Monday, took the first set against Croatia’s 18th seed Donna Vekic but was beaten 4-6 6-0 6-2.

Dart’s issue with the court 14 crowd came on a day when rowdy supporter behaviour fell under the spotlight amid other incidents at Melbourne Park.

“I felt like I was at a football match. Obviously it’s great to have lots of people there watching and everything but I also think there has to be respect towards both players,” said Dart, 28.

“I think a few people were about to be kicked out. I can only really compare it to the Billie Jean King Cup and I don’t even think I’ve had it be like that before.

“I think [the umpire] did as best as she could – maybe there should be a stricter policy in terms of if people are doing something, if they do it more than once they are out, but I don’t make those rules.”

Elsewhere, the chair umpire had to make several appeals for respect towards the players during Jack Draper’s match against Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis on John Cain Arena.

The home crowd attempted to unsettle Draper throughout the four-and-a-half hour contest, and the British number one responded by cupping his ear to the crowd on several occasions.

Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime’s match against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was moved from court eight because the players complained about the noise coming from neighbouring courts.

Boisterous French crowds gathered to watch Arthur Cazaux against Britain’s Jacob Fearnley on court six, and Ugo Humbert against Lebanon’s Hady Habib on court three.

Vekic was similarly well-backed by her supporters as she fought back to defeat Dart, who had struck the first blow in the deciding set before the world number 19 won five straight games to complete her victory.