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Wimbledon line technology fails again as Fritz reaches semis / Photo: © AFP
Wimbledon line technology fails again as Fritz reaches semis
Wimbledon's under-fire line technology system suffered another embarrassment 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 said on Sunday 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 after another hard-fought encounter as the American won 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4).
The fifth seed was on the brink of a first round exit when he fell two sets down to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and was also forced to five sets against Gabriel Diallo in round two.
But Fritz was handed a break by Jordan Thompson's early retirement in his fourth round match and summoned his energy to see off a fightback from Khachanov.
One break of serve was enough for the American to take the first two sets.
Khachanov, who had won the two previous meetings between the players, hit back at the start of the third with a double break of Fritz's booming serve.
The Russian looked set to force Fritz all the way again when he broke early in the fourth.
However, the world number five hit back to break in the fourth game and wrapped up victory in just over two-and-a-half hours on a tie break.
Fritz will face the winner of defending champion Carlos Alcaraz's clash with Britain's Cameron Norrie in the last four.
R. Borges--JDB
