LONDON (AP) 鈥 A malfunction with Wimbledon 's new electronic line-calling system required a point to be replayed during a quarterfinal match between Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov on Tuesday.
The latest occurred during the opening game of the fourth set on Court No. 1 after Fritz had served at 15-0 and the players exchanged shots. Then came a random 鈥渇ault鈥 call.
Chair umpire Louise Azemar-Engzell stopped play and a few moments later announced: 鈥淟adies and gentlemen, we will replay the last point due to a malfunction.鈥
The system had tracked Fritz's shot in the rally as if it was a serve, the All England Club said.
鈥淭he player鈥檚 service motion began while the (ball boy/ball girl) was still crossing the net and therefore the system didn鈥檛 recognize the start of the point. As such the chair umpire instructed the point be replayed,鈥 the club said in a statement.
After the 鈥渇ault鈥 call, a perplexed Fritz turned to the umpire's chair and spread his hands as if asking 鈥渨hat was that?鈥
Neither player seemed upset and Khachanov won the replayed point, but the with a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4) victory.
鈥淚f it would happen on a break point or deuce or maybe tiebreaker, OK, you can get more mad,鈥 the 17th-seeded Khachanov said. 鈥淏ut it was just beginning of the set, 15-Love or Love-15. I don鈥檛 remember. It was maybe not that important moment. That鈥檚 why I stayed really focused and calm.鈥
Wimbledon switched this year to the but it's been anything but smooth.
On Sunday, there was a glaring mistake at Centre Court during in the fourth round. A shot by Kartal clearly landed past the baseline but wasn鈥檛 called out by the automated setup 鈥 called Hawk-Eye 鈥 because it had been shut off.
On Monday, club officials blamed 鈥渉uman error鈥 for the oversight. Club chief executive Sally Bolton said the technology was 鈥渋nadvertently deactivated鈥 by someone for three points in the match.
Fritz, who will face either defending champion Carlos Alcaraz or Cameron Norrie for a spot in the final, said he still prefers the new system.
鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be some issues here and there but, to be honest, I still think it鈥檚 much better to just have the electronic line-calling (system) calling the lines as opposed to umpires," he said.
鈥淚 do like not having to think about challenging calls in the middle of points,鈥 Fritz continued. 鈥淚 do like that we don鈥檛 have to argue about calls and all this stuff. I think it鈥檚 a better system.鈥
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