Playing in her first match in Melbourne, Jelena Ostapenko complained about the Hawk-Eye Live system during her straight sets win over Italian Sara Errani.
The 13th seed from Latvia, at the Gippsland Trophy WTA 500 event in Melbourne Park, pulled off a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over the former World No 5. But in the match that lasted just under two hours, the 2017 French Open champion complained that the Hawk-Eye Live system on Arena 1573 was faulty.
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Tennis Australia made the decision to use the Hawk-Eye Live system for all events in the country in the build up to the year’s first Grand Slam. This was done in an attempt reduce the number of people on court as a measure to tackle the pandemic.
The 23-year-old however was incensed after a number of her shots falling close to the line were called ‘out.’
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After one of these calls in the third game of the second set, Ostapenko could be heard ranting: “This system is so freaking bad.”
"The system is so freaking bad" #Ostapenko pic.twitter.com/hLbJGk70Gl
— tennis gifs 🎾🎥 (@tennis_gifs) January 31, 2021
Replays however suggested the shot did indeed go wide.
The Latvian, a former World No 5 herself, had been leading 4-2 in the opening set before dropping serve twice and folding 6-4. The second began with neither player managing to hold serve in the first six games, before Ostapenko found her range and raced on to take the second set.
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She used that momentum to quickly wrap up the match in the third as well.
Overall, Ostapenko struck an impressive 56 winners but also gave away 42 unforced errors, including with 11 double faults. Errani meanwhile had 15 unforced errors.
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The current World No 45 next plays Danka Kovinic of Montenegro.
