Taylor Fritz reaches Wimbledon semis despite fresh line call blunder, Aryna Sabalenka advances
Image: Henry Nicholls/AFP
Wimbledon's controversial line technology system malfunctioned again as Taylor Fritz beat Karen Khachanov to reach his first Wimbledon semi-final, while world number one Aryna Sabalenka survived a scare to make the last four on Tuesday.
Swedish umpire Louise Azemar Engzell had to stop a point in the opening game of the fourth set on Court One when "fault" was incorrectly called after a Fritz forehand landed well inside the baseline.
The call of "fault", rather than "out", and positioning of the ball suggested the system was still tracking Fritz's serve as opposed to a rally and the point had to be replayed.
Tournament organisers were forced to apologise and make a change to the system to avoid further issues after a major error in Sonay Kartal's fourth-round defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women's draw.
Get your news on the go, click
here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Advertisement
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Next
Stay
Close ✕
On that occasion, the new system failed to call out when a shot by Kartal landed well behind the baseline.
A fully automated system has replaced human line judges at Wimbledon for the first time this year, in line with the Australian Open and the US Open.
The latest blunder did not stop American fifth seed Fritz advancing after another hard-fought 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4) win over Russian 17th seed Khachanov.
Fritz, who lost in the US Open final last year, will face the winner of defending champion Carlos Alcaraz's clash with Britain's Cameron Norrie.
Sabalenka fought back from the brink of a shock exit to reach the semi-finals with a gutsy 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win against Germany's Laura Siegemund.
Sabalenka twice trailed by a break in the final set on Centre Court and was two games away from crashing out before staging a dramatic revival to win in two hours and 54 minutes of unrelenting tension.
The 27-year-old top seed is through to the All England Club semi-finals for the third time after losing at that stage in 2021 and 2023.
'I need some time to cool down'
Beaten in the Australian and French Open finals this year after winning the US Open in 2024, Sabalenka remains on course to reach a fourth successive Grand Slam title match.
The Belarusian will face American 13th seed Amanda Anisimova or Russian world number 50 Pavlyuchenkova for a place in the final.
Sabalenka remains the only one of the top six women's seeds still standing at the tournament after two weeks of shocks.
The three-time Grand Slam champion nearly joined that list of high-profile exits in a memorable clash.
"That was a real test. I need some time to cool down and recover after this," Sabalenka said.
"She pushed me so much. After the first set I was looking at my box and thinking, 'book the tickets, we are about to leave this beautiful place'.
"She played an incredible tournament and match. I'm just super happy with the match and win."
Alcaraz has dropped four sets during his run to the last eight before raising his level to keep his title defence alive.
The world number two is aiming to join an elite group of men who have won the tournament in three straight years in the Open era – Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
But the Spaniard knows large sections of the Centre Court crowd will be behind world number 61 Norrie, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2022.
"He's going to use the crowd to his advantage," said Alcaraz, who is on a career-best 22-match winning streak.
"I have to be really strong mentally and focused to play good tennis if I want to beat him."
Alcaraz has won 33 of his 36 Tour-level matches on grass.
The five-time Grand Slam winner's last defeat at Wimbledon came against Jannik Sinner in the fourth round in 2022.
AFP
Get your news on the go, click
here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
eNCA
7 hours ago
- eNCA
Wimbledon line technology fails again as Fritz reaches semis
Wimbledon's under-fire line technology system suffered another embarrassing malfunction during Taylor Fritz's quarter-final win over Karen Khachanov on Tuesday. Swedish umpire Louise Azemar Engzell had to stop a point in the opening game of the fourth set on Court One when "fault" was incorrectly called after a Fritz forehand landed well inside the baseline. The call of "fault", rather than "out", and positioning of the ball suggested the system was still tracking Fritz's serve as opposed to a rally and the point had to be replayed. Tournament organisers claimed the system had failed to reset because the ball from Fritz's first serve was still being retrieved when he started lining up his second. "The player's service motion began while the BBG (ball boy or girl) was still crossing the net and therefore the system didn't recognise the start of the point," an All England Club statement said. "As such the chair umpire instructed the point be replayed." Wimbledon chiefs said earlier this week that they were confident of avoiding further issues with the technology after a major error in Sonay Kartal's fourth-round defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women's draw. On that occasion, the new system failed to call out when a shot by Kartal landed well behind the baseline. A fully automated system has replaced human line judges at Wimbledon for the first time this year, in line with the Australian Open and the US Open. But there have been a number of glitches and concerns raised by other players about the technology, including British stars Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper. The controversy did not stop Fritz reaching his first Wimbledon semi-final as the American won 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4). Khachanov was unhappy with the latest technological glitch and criticised the way the system has been used this year. "Look, to be honest, I'm more for line umpires. Electronic line calls have to be very precise and no mistakes, but we've seen a couple. That's questionable why this is happening," he said. "Today I think there were a few calls. I don't know, very questionable if it's really touching the line or not. "At the same time during one point, the machine call it just out during the rally. Sometimes it's scary to let machine do what they want, you know. "What can I do? I can argue, and be angry on it or just continue playing. It's not in my power. It's already happened. I need to kind of accept it, and that's it."
IOL News
8 hours ago
- IOL News
'Big adrenalin' propels Tadej Pogacar to Tour stage and 100th career win
Pogacar wins fourth stage Tadej Pogacar cycles to the finish line to win ahead of Jonas Vingegaard taking third place during the 4th stage of the 112th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 174.2 km between Amiens Metropole and Rouen, Northern France, on Tuesday. Photo: Loic Venance/AFP Image: Loic Venance/AFP Tadej Pogacar blew past his rivals in an "explosive" finish to take Tour de France stage four at Rouen on Tuesday and claim his 100th professional victory. "That was really pure, classic Tour-de-France-style explosive," said an elated Pogacar. The win did not quite bring him the overall lead. Dutch powerhouse Mathieu van der Poel finished second to keep the yellow jersey. Pogacar attacked on an incline to the line to finish just ahead of Van der Poel with Jonas Vingegaard third. Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ It was the 26-year-old Slovenian's 18th Tour de France stage win as he seeks a fourth overall triumph on the Tour. "There was big adrenalin and a big field of contenders," Pogacar said. Fans were treated to another Pogacar-Vingegaard head-to-head duel as five hills made the final 40km a roller-coaster. Van der Poel also entered the fray and kept the overall lead he took from Alpecin teammate Jasper Philipsen, who quit the Tour injured after a nasty fall on Monday. "Jasper needs to recover, and I hope he understands how hard I tried to win for him today," Van der Poel said. On the day's final real climb, Pogacar dropped all his rivals with only Vingegaard offering a real fight. But the big Dutch rider and the slender Dane both came back at Pogacar, making him fight all the way to the line in a thunderous finale. The same trio top the overall standings, with Pogacar second and Vingegaard in third. Van der Poel took the overall lead on stage two but risks losing it on Wednesday's time trial. "I should be happy to have the jersey again," said Van der Poel. "I was surrounded by climbers out there you know." "Tadej was stronger and it's as simple as that." Plenty of falls Unlike the opening three stages, there was hardly a puff of wind and not a drop of rain, but there were still plenty of falls. There was also a knifing incident with a man at Rouen slightly injuring a police officer before himself being shot as he tried to escape. Neither the police officer nor the alleged culprit suffered life-threatening injuries. Stage five will shake up the overall standings with a 33km individual time trial around Caen. The stage is being billed as the day Remco Evenepoel will finally slip into the overall leader's yellow jersey. To do so the 25-year-old Belgian world and Olympic champion in the discipline will need to cover the course 59sec faster than Pogacar and Vingegaard. "Tomorrow (Wednesday) will be the big day, the real test of how good everyone is," said Pogacar. "Don't count Remco out," he added. "He's the best in the world and he'll be going full gas, like me." The man who designs the race, Thierry Gouvenou, predicted big time differences on the time trial. "It's flat and runs through exposed plains. This is a course designed for the specialists. You need to be aerodynamic and powerful," he said, which suggests it could suit Evenepoel in particular. "This is a red letter day for all the main contenders." Rarely lacking in confidence, Evenepoel was true to form. "I can put a minute into them all tomorrow," he said in Rouen after the fourth stage. The first mountains come as late as stage 10 over the volcanic landscape of the Puy de Dome, with two more colossal climbing days in the Pyrenees before the blockbuster final week in the Alps. AFP Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
IOL News
9 hours ago
- IOL News
Taylor Fritz reaches Wimbledon semis despite fresh line call blunder, Aryna Sabalenka advances
Fritz advances US player Taylor Fritz celebrates after victory over Russia's Karen Khachanov at the end of their men's singles quarter-final tennis match on the ninth day of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on Tuesday. Photo: Henry Nicholls/AFP Image: Henry Nicholls/AFP Wimbledon's controversial line technology system malfunctioned again as Taylor Fritz beat Karen Khachanov to reach his first Wimbledon semi-final, while world number one Aryna Sabalenka survived a scare to make the last four on Tuesday. Swedish umpire Louise Azemar Engzell had to stop a point in the opening game of the fourth set on Court One when "fault" was incorrectly called after a Fritz forehand landed well inside the baseline. The call of "fault", rather than "out", and positioning of the ball suggested the system was still tracking Fritz's serve as opposed to a rally and the point had to be replayed. Tournament organisers were forced to apologise and make a change to the system to avoid further issues after a major error in Sonay Kartal's fourth-round defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women's draw. Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ On that occasion, the new system failed to call out when a shot by Kartal landed well behind the baseline. A fully automated system has replaced human line judges at Wimbledon for the first time this year, in line with the Australian Open and the US Open. The latest blunder did not stop American fifth seed Fritz advancing after another hard-fought 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4) win over Russian 17th seed Khachanov. Fritz, who lost in the US Open final last year, will face the winner of defending champion Carlos Alcaraz's clash with Britain's Cameron Norrie. Sabalenka fought back from the brink of a shock exit to reach the semi-finals with a gutsy 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win against Germany's Laura Siegemund. Sabalenka twice trailed by a break in the final set on Centre Court and was two games away from crashing out before staging a dramatic revival to win in two hours and 54 minutes of unrelenting tension. The 27-year-old top seed is through to the All England Club semi-finals for the third time after losing at that stage in 2021 and 2023. 'I need some time to cool down' Beaten in the Australian and French Open finals this year after winning the US Open in 2024, Sabalenka remains on course to reach a fourth successive Grand Slam title match. The Belarusian will face American 13th seed Amanda Anisimova or Russian world number 50 Pavlyuchenkova for a place in the final. Sabalenka remains the only one of the top six women's seeds still standing at the tournament after two weeks of shocks. The three-time Grand Slam champion nearly joined that list of high-profile exits in a memorable clash. "That was a real test. I need some time to cool down and recover after this," Sabalenka said. "She pushed me so much. After the first set I was looking at my box and thinking, 'book the tickets, we are about to leave this beautiful place'. "She played an incredible tournament and match. I'm just super happy with the match and win." Alcaraz has dropped four sets during his run to the last eight before raising his level to keep his title defence alive. The world number two is aiming to join an elite group of men who have won the tournament in three straight years in the Open era – Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. But the Spaniard knows large sections of the Centre Court crowd will be behind world number 61 Norrie, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2022. "He's going to use the crowd to his advantage," said Alcaraz, who is on a career-best 22-match winning streak. "I have to be really strong mentally and focused to play good tennis if I want to beat him." Alcaraz has won 33 of his 36 Tour-level matches on grass. The five-time Grand Slam winner's last defeat at Wimbledon came against Jannik Sinner in the fourth round in 2022. AFP Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
