Elena Rybakina Vents Her Frustration At Line-Calling System Despite Win at the Madrid Open

Elena Rybakina becomes the first player to beat Qinwen Zheng on three different surfaces on tour.

Elena Rybakina Vents Her Frustration At Line-Calling System Despite Win at the Madrid Open

Elena Rybakina (via X/The Tennis Letter)

Elena Rybakina has admitted that she has no trust in the electronic line-calling systems at the Madrid Open after an incident during her three-set victory over Qinwen Zheng in the third round. The World No.2 recorded her 27th win of the season at the tournament, the most match wins by any women’s player on tour.

Rybakina battled against the current Olympic champion Zheng in the third set. Zheng drew first blood after breaking the Kazakhstan star early and went on to win the set 6-4. But Rybakina clawed her way back into the match, breaking the Chinese star twice in the second set and three times in the third set.

Rybakina has now won 15 of her 17 matches played since the start of March, with both losses coming against her rival and World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka. Rybakina’s frustration with the electronic line-calling system during her match came in the second set, when Zheng’s serve was called in, giving the Chinese player an ace to go up 40-0.

However, Rybakina complained to the umpire that the ball was out and pointed to a mark on the court, but the officials were unable to overrule the system’s decision unless it failed. The Australian Open champion was not pleased with it and had an argument with the umpire about it before continuing the match.

Nonetheless, she went on to win the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to earn her place in the fourth round of the Madrid Open. During her post-match press conference, Rybakina vented her frustration at the electronic system, comparing the incident to Alexander Zverev’s incident at the tournament last year, when he had to take pictures of a wrong call by the line-calling system:

I won’t trust it at all because there was no mark even close to what the TV showed. It was, I think, similar to what (Alexander) Zverev had last year because it was in front of her (the umpire’s) nose. You can’t not see it. It was pretty frustrating. It’s kind of a stolen point. I understand it was her serve and she was serving really well, but it’s really frustrating.

The electronic line-calling system was first introduced to the Madrid Open in 2020 and has since replaced line judges at the tournament with a fully Automated System. However, the system has made some wrong calls at the tournament, which has not been witnessed in other events with the same technology.

Elena Rybakina excited to take her opportunities against Qinwen Zheng in Madrid

Elena Rybakina didn’t play her best game against Qinwen Zheng in the third round of the Madrid Open on Sunday (April 26). The World No.2 sprayed 30 unforced errors and hit only 19 winners, but she won the match thanks to Zheng’s 45 unforced errors, ten of them coming in the crucial third set of the match.

Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

However, Rybakina’s win against Zheng is her fourth victory over the Chinese star in their past five meetings and she becomes the first player on tour to beat the Olympic champion on grass, clay, and hard courts. During the aforementioned press conference, Rybakina admitted that she was happy to take her opportunities on the court:

I think the level of the match was better than the first one. I think my serve was better, but Qinwen, she is a tough opponent. She was serving really well. She was also returning all my serves. I don’t think that the serve was really an issue today. So yeah, I’m just happy that I took the opportunity in the second set. I was fighting, trying to always stay close. Somehow again, another three-set match, but I’m happy.

The Stuttgart Open champion will play Anastasia Potapova in the fourth round of the Madrid Open. Lucky loser Potapova defeated Jelena Ostapenko in the third round in three sets. Should Rybakina beat the Austrian star, she will be on course to face Coco Gauff in the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 tournament.

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