Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova said a game was ‘stolen’ from her when Wimbledon’s electronic line-calling system failed during her fourth-round match against Britain’s Sonay Kartal.
There was no ‘out’ call when a Kartal backhand went long at 4-4 in the first set, with chair umpire Nico Helwerth halting play.
Russian Pavlyuchenkova had seen the ball was out – and a TV replay showed that was the case by some distance.
Addressing the crowd, Helwerth said: “We’re just going to check if the system was up and running, because there was no audio call.”
After a telephone call, he announced the electronic system “was unfortunately unable to track the last point” and ordered the point to be replayed.
Umpires can decide to make their own call if the system breaks down and are also entitled to replay the point.
Had the ball been called out, Pavlyuchenkova would have won the point and taken the lead.
Instead, it was replayed, Kartal won the point and went on to break for a 5-4 lead.
The fact Pavlyuchenkova went on to win the match meant the malfunction was not as costly as it could have been, although she still questioned why the umpire did not call it out.
“That’s why he’s there,” she said. “He also saw it out, he told me after the match.
“I thought he would do that, but he didn’t. Instead they just said replay.
“I don’t know if it’s something to do [with Kartal being] local.
“I think it’s also difficult for him. He probably was scared to take such a big decision.”
