LONDON (Reuters) -Wimbledon’s automated line-calling technology came under fire on Sunday after a malfunction robbed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of a point in her last-16 clash with Britain’s Sonay Kartal.
Pavlyuchenkova had reached game point at 4-4 in the opening set on Centre Court and Kartal hit a shot that looked clearly long but there was no call and Pavlyuchenkova stopped play.
Confusion reigned with television replays showing that Kartal’s shot was well out, but after seeking advice via telephone umpire Nico Helwerth said that because the Hawk-Eye technology had been unable to track the shot, the point had to be replayed.
Russian Pavlyuchenkova went on to have her serve broken and was clearly fuming at the changeover, telling the umpire: “Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me. They stole the game from me. You stole the game from me”.
She did, however, recover to win the opening set.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)
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