- Sonay Kartal faced Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the last-16 of Wimbledon
- There was drama as the Russian was denied a crucial point in the first set
- Kartal clearly hit the ball out on Pavlyuchenkova’s game point but it wasn’t called
There was drama during the first set of Sonay Kartal’s round of 16 clash with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at Wimbledon on Sunday as the electronic line calling system failed during a crucial point.
The set was level at 4-4 with Pavlyuchenkova on game point to hold on her serve when the incident occurred.
Kartal proceeded to hit a ball clearly over the baseline but the AI line judge failed to call it out despite replays showing it was.
The decision was made to replay the point despite the obvious error, leaving Pavlyuchenkova incensed.
And things got worse for her as Kartal went on to turn the game around and claim the break.
Pavlyuchenkova even went as far as to claim there was some pro-British bias going on with the Centre Court crowd firmly behind their Brit.
This ball from Sonay Kartal was not called out as the AI line judge malfunctioned on Sunday
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova couldn’t believe the decision and made her feelings known
Britain’s Kartal went on to save the game point and then break her Russian opponent
German umpire Nico Helwerth made the decision to replay the point despite the clear error
‘I don’t know if it’s in or it’s out,’ she said to German umpire Nico Helwerth. ‘How do I know? How can you prove it?
‘Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me. They stole the game from me’
Britain’s leading duo Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu have both complained about the accuracy of the system this week.
After her defeat by Aryna Sabalenka on Friday, Raducanu said: ‘It’s kind of disappointing, the tournament here, that the calls can be so wrong.’
Wimbledon organisers have defended the technology, which is widely used on the tour.
