American Ben Shelton was furious when play in his second-round encounter with Rinky Hijikata at Wimbledon was suspended because of bad light as he was about to serve for the match.
After winning the first two sets 6-2 7-5, 10th seed Shelton was leading 5-4 in the third and potentially on course to wrap up his progress within a matter of minutes.
But with the time approaching 21:30 and the sunlight having faded, the umpire on court two announced that there would be no more play that evening, much to Shelton, and the crowd’s, frustration.
The two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist, 22, angrily questioned officials about the decision, which means he has to return on Friday to play what could prove to be just one game, denying him a full day off.
Adding to Shelton’s annoyance was the fact he had lost three match points on Hijikata’s serve just before, and had also asked if play could be suspended before the start of the third set.
Shelton is now due to resume his match on Friday on court two after the conclusion of Naomi Osaka’s third-round match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker defended the decision to stop play.
“We gave the players as much time as we possibly could to try to finish that match. We played till very, very late. It was extremely dark,” he told BBC Sport.
“Ultimately, we have a team of officials who are on the court, and they’re making a judgment call on several different factors.
“They just did not feel comfortable with the match continuing in almost complete darkness.
“So we do stand by the decision. Sometimes these things happen. [We have] lots of matches to get on court – it was definitely the right decision from the officials.”
