Wimbledon’s AI line-calling system suffered another high-profile glitch as Taylor Fritz knocked Karen Khachanov out of the quarter-finals.
The All England Club scrapped human line judges this year in favour of an automated system similar to those used at other tournaments, but it has proven error-prone in a rocky installation period.
Its most high-profile gaffe came on Sunday as Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova claimed to have had a game ‘stolen’ from her after it missed a call, and points had to be replayed again this afternoon as Fritz overcame Khachanov to extend his Wimbledon run.
The San Diego native overcame a foot injury and endured a worrying wobble in the third set after cruising through the opening brace. He recovered to finish the job after four, though, winning 6-3 6-4 1-6 7-6(7).
Fritz’s third-set mini-crisis was closely followed by the latest failure of the electronic umpire. Swedish umpire Louise Azemar-Engzell called 'stop' 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. Azemar-Engzell ordered the point be replayed.
The incident heralds yet more unwanted attention for the tournament organisers after they were forced to issue an apology to Pavlyuchenkova on Sunday.
The fifth-seeded Fritz, runner-up at last year's U.S. Open, came into the tie having won just one of his five career major quarterfinals, losing two at Wimbledon alone. He'll now meet either two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz or home favourite Cameron Norrie for a final berth.
Fritz powered his way to a big early lead against No17 Khachanov, taking 40 of his 47 service points across the initial two sets and never facing a break chance in that span.
But two-time major semifinalist Khachanov then grabbed eight of nine games before Fritz took a medical timeout, removing his right shoe and sock so the trainer could retape the foot.
Khachanov broke to begin the fourth set, in a game in which Fritz's top serve was 117 mph, 18 mph slower than his fastest of the match to that point. He looked up at his guest box and tapped his racket against his thighs, perhaps indicating that he was dealing with some fatigue.
From 2-0 down in the fourth, though, Fritz began to regain his strength and touch, and was on three occasions just two points from victory, while up 5-4 and 6-5. But Khachanov forced the tiebreaker, where the score was 4-all, before Fritz claimed the final trio of points.
Fritz finished with 16 aces and reached a top speed of 138mph by the end.
Khachanov, never past the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, is now winless in 11 Grand Slam matches against opponents ranked in the top five.
Additional reporting: Agencies
