WATCH: “I showed you already,” Qinwen Zheng pays the price after a wrong call by the umpire as she gets broken early on

Qinwen Zheng lost a break point over a wrong umpiring call.

WATCH: “I showed you already,” Qinwen Zheng pays the price after a wrong call by the umpire as she gets broken early on

Qinwen Zheng was left dejected (Via Imago)

Another umpire mishap at the French Open cost the players badly. This time it was the young Qinwen Zheng, who seemed to be on a roll until the chair umpire’s wrong call. 

The Chinese pro was up and running with some proper groundstrokes and had a commendable 6-3 lead in the first set. Similarly, she had taken an early lead in the second set and was about to get an important break point. The ball had pitched out and Zheng was already cheering for the point to win. 

YouTube video

However, the umpire had gone to check it and looked at a completely different ball mark, giving the point to Elina Avanesyan. This cost Zheng the break-point and eventually put her down in the match. Her opponent managed to recover from the first set loss and fight back to force a third set.

FS Video

Eventually, the match went on to a third-set tie-break, and Zheng, who had started with a lead, did not make it to the finish line and fell to the Russian. A small upset to the tournament as Avanesyan made it across to the fourth round of the French Open. 

This was not the first time that an umpire had made a wrong call that cost the player their match. It has happened a few times on the men’s tour and this is one of the few times it has happened against women. 

Elina Avanesyan repeats her fairytale year for the second time in a row

Russian ace Elina Avanesyan has been one of the best underdogs of the Roland Garros. Last year, she came from the qualifiers to make it to the fourth round of the Slam. This year as well, the Russian did the same. 

Elina Avanesyan
Elina Avanesyan (Via Imago)

From the qualifiers, she made her way to the main draw and from there into the fourth draw. Moreover, this is her third Top-10 win this year. What started with Maria Sakkari at the Australian Open translated into another major win at the French Open

After a few days here, I guess everybody got used to it. During the break we were just playing cards and drinking tea, to be honest.
said Elina Avanesyan after the match

She will now move ahead to the fourth round and play the in-form Jasmine Paolini, who just emerged victorious in her previous match. This is a great opportunity for the Russian to make it one step closer to a successful run at the Slam.

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