Cibulkova fumes over 'ridiculous' line call

Slovakian launches tirade at officials after opponent Hsieh persuades umpire to replay a point

Jul 10, 2018 06:00 am

Dominika Cibulkova launched a scathing attack on Wimbledon's officials after a line-call controversy marred her 6-4, 6-1 rout of Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei yesterday.

Cibulkova was furious when Hsieh persuaded the umpire to replay a point that was initially called in the Slovakian's favour and would have given her three set points in the opening set.

Hsieh's protests to the umpire prompted the match referee to come on court to intervene as the argument lasted almost seven minutes before the point was finally replayed, much to Cibulkova's disgust.

The 29-year-old challenged her anger to secure a fourth- round win over Hsieh - who had shocked world No. 1 Simona Halep in the previous round.

"It was ridiculous what happened there. It never happened to me in my career," Cibulkova fumed. "Sometimes. I'm also complaining because I think it was a wrong call. But it never happened to me that the umpire changed the decision.

"It was really ridiculous for me. I think it was a really bad decision from the supervisor and from the umpire.

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"They changed their mind. The umpire told me she doesn't remember what happened after the ball. Is it my fault you don't remember if she hit the net or if she put it on my side?

"It doesn't matter. The call was after when she played the ball. She made a decision.

"After she was complaining, they were talking in Chinese, whatever language.

"It really messed with me, then I tried to just calm down, to play my game."

Cibulkova is ranked 33rd in the world and controversially missed out on being seeded at Wimbledon when officials moved up seven-time champion Serena Williams into the seedings, despite the American being ranked outside the top 150 following her maternity leave.

Although Cibulkova complained about the decision, the former Australian Open finalist has refocused well enough to make her third Wimbledon quarter-final. She faces Latvian 12th seed Jelena Ostapenko, a former French Open champion, for a place in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, former Wimbledon finalist Angelique Kerber stepped up her bid to return to the title match with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) win against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic.

Serena Williams also raced into her 13th Wimbledon quarter-final as the seven-time champion thrashed Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina 6-2, 6-2 in just 62 minutes.

She faces Italian world No. 52 Camila Giorgi today for a place in the semi-finals.

In the men's draw, defending champion Roger Federer eased into his 16th Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 win over unseeded Adrian Mannarino of France.

Eight-time champion Federer will also be playing in the 53rd Grand Slam last eight of his career when he tackles either Gael Monfils or Kevin Anderson, the eighth-seeded South African. - AFP