The quarter-finals stage at Wimbledon is fast approaching, with several stars from both the men’s and women’s draws having already secured their place in the last eight.
Taylor Fritz is into the second week at the championships for the third time in his career, following Jordan Thompson’s withdrawal from their match due to injury.
Also into the quarter-finals for the first time since 2016 is 34-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who defeated home hope Sonay Kartal in round four.
Pavlyuchenkova’s triumph over Kartal featured controversy over a non-call by the electric line-calling system on a game point for the Russian, which resulted in the Briton breaking her serve after the point was replayed.
Following Fritz’s fourth-round match at Wimbledon, he was told about the situation and gave his opinion on what needs to be changed going forward.
Taylor Fritz reacts to electric line-calling error at Wimbledon
In his post-match press conference, the American said: “So someone hit a ball out, that was clearly out, and the Hawk-eye didn’t call it, so they replayed the point?
“Okay, if it’s clearly out. Why is the chair umpire there? The chair umpire has to make the call. Why is he there if he is not going to call the ball?”
Fritz was asked: “If you were the player who got wronged, how frustrated would you be?”
He replied: “It is really frustrating. It’s frustrating when you mess up in a match, and you have to get over it. But maybe you played badly and did that.
“But when things are out of your control, for me, that’s by far the most frustrating something can be. When it’s out of your control, and there’s nothing you can do, and it’s unfair.
“It’s almost like when you get an unlucky bounce, those are the most frustrating things. And this is even worse because it’s something that is so easy to fix.
“I had a very similar situation happen to me in Cincinnati last year. The electronic line calling did not call it, and then it did call it a couple of shots later, it showed it was out, but we still had to replay the point, which made no sense.
“At the time, I was told by the chair umpire I had to stop the point if I wanted to win the point. I said why would I?
“I said, listen to what you are saying, you want me to stop the point when there is an electronic line calling because I thought the ball was out. That’s insane.
“There should be situations where the umpires can step in and make a call if the ball is obviously out. It’s ridiculous.”
Taylor Fritz’s quarter-finals opponent at Wimbledon
In the quarter-finals, Fritz will face Karen Khachanov, who became the first 90s-born player to reach the last eight multiple times at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
The two stars have met twice before, with both clashes going the way of the Russian.
| Match | Winner | Score |
|---|---|---|
| ATP Cup Round Robin 2020 | Khachanov | 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 |
| Shanghai Masters Round of 32 2019 | Khachanov | 6-2, 6-4 |
They first met at the Shanghai Masters 1000 event in 2019, where Khachanov swept Fritz aside in straight sets.
In their most recent meeting, the current world number five was overcome in three sets at the ATP Cup in 2020.
Now, they’ll face off for the first time on grass, in a maiden Grand Slam bout against each other.
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