MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Not that Iga Swiatek needs the help during her dominant run through the Australian Open so far, but she did get the benefit of a no-call when she failed to reach a ball hit by her opponent Emma Navarro before it bounced twice Wednesday, renewing the debate over the use of video reviews in tennis.
The No. 2-seeded Swiatek's 6-1, 6-2 victory was not much in doubt — she's ceded a total of just 14 games through five matches heading into Thursday night's semifinals against Madison Keys — although the score was still 2-all against Navarro when the point drawing a lot of attention happened.
“I don’t feel like it was a huge momentum swing. Obviously the score says otherwise,” Navarro said.
“I was definitely able to reset. I was kind of a little bit frustrated on the changeover," the eighth-seeded American added. "Maybe it bled into one point, and then I told myself: ‘It’s time to move on, it’s in the past, can’t linger on it.’”
It was a 13-stroke point, and the 10th was a drop shot by Navarro that landed close to the net. Swiatek raced forward, nearly doing the splits and dragging her right knee as she got to the ball. Her response got over the net, and she eventually put away a backhand after Navarro replied. That gave Swiatek a 3-2 lead; the match went on another 25 minutes, and Navarro didn't take another game.
A replay shown afterward showed Swiatek did not get to the ball before the double bounce. A chair umpire can be asked to review something like that, although only if the player stops during the point — which Navarro didn't do in the heat of the moment, instead trying to prolong the exchange.
When she saw a replay on the video board at Rod Laver Arena during the ensuing changeover, Navarro asked official Eva Asderaki-Moore, “Did you see that?”
“I asked her after the point if I could see a replay," Navarro said, "and she said I played it, so I couldn’t see it.”
Navarro thinks that rule should be changed so final rulings can be made with the benefit of video review.
The athletes, she said, “should be allowed to see after the point, even if you play. It happened so fast. You hit the shot, and she hits it back, and you’re just, like, ‘Oh, I guess I’m playing.’ In the back of your head, you’re, like, ‘OK, maybe I can still win the point even though it wasn’t called.’ It’s going to be a downer if I stop the point and it turns out it wasn’t a double bounce. It’s tough.”
Navarro said she wasn't sure whether Swiatek realized the ball bounced twice.
Swiatek, a 23-year-old from Poland, was asked about it at her news conference — and said she didn't know.
“I didn’t see the replay after this point, because after the point, I didn’t look up for the screens because I wanted to stay focused and didn’t want this point to stay in my head for longer period of time,” said Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion who will face another American, No. 19 Keys, for a berth in Saturday's final against No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka or No. 11 Paula Badosa.
“I wasn’t sure if it was a double bounce or I hit it with my frame,” Swiatek said. “It was hard to say because I was full sprinting.”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press
