LONDON • Caroline Wozniacki, who got married last month, will not get any icing on the cake after crashing out of the third round at Wimbledon yesterday.
Her honeymoon at the All England Club, where she has yet to make it past the fourth round, was over when she lost 6-4, 6-2 to China's Zhang Shuai.
The newlywed Dane raced into a 4-0 lead over the Chinese in their third-round clash on Court Two, but that was as good as it got.
From there she slipped, via a rambling, rumbling grumble about Hawk-Eye.
"I thought there were a few ones that I saw way differently," the 28-year-old former world No. 1 said, referring to her irritation with the line-call verification system.
"At this point, it doesn't matter. Maybe the Hawk-Eye was right. Maybe I just saw it wrong.
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SELECTED RESULTS
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MEN 3rd rd Milos Raonic (Can) bt Reilly Opelka (USA) 7-6(7-1) 6-2 6-1, Benoit Paire (Fra) bt Jiri Vesely (Cze) 5-7 7-6(7-5) 6-3 7-6 (7-2), Guido Pella (Arg) bt Kevin Anderson (Rsa) 6-4 6-3 7-6(7-4).
WOMEN 3rd rd Elina Svitolina (Ukr) bt Maria Sakkari (Gre) 6-3 6-7(1-7), 6-2, Zhang Shuai (Chn) bt Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 6-4 6-2, Karolina Pliskova (Cze) bt Hsieh Su-wei (Tpe) 6-3 2-6 6-4.
"Obviously, when you think you've won the point and then have to replay, that can be frustrating."
She was furious halfway through the second set, when Zhang challenged a forehand that was called out, only for Hawk-Eye to confirm that it was in.
"That ball is not even close to being halfway on the line. It was out," the 2018 Australian Open champion told the umpire.
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+18
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More winners Zhang Shuai had over Caroline Wozniacki.
Moments later, a similar incident occurred and the 14th-seeded Dane was once again infuriated.
The drama did not end there. Zhang made another challenge and the call was yet again in her favour.
Wozniacki's husband, former National Basketball Association player David Lee, also yelled from the stands: "That ball's this far out!"
Wozniacki, though, admitted that Zhang, who had 26 winners to her eight, was the better player.
"She was playing well today. She took the balls early, was returning well. She was moving quite well around the court," she said.
Wozniacki, diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the end of last season, has struggled for consistency this term. She reached the final at Charleston in April, but following that up with first-round defeats in three of the subsequent four tournaments.
For world No. 60 Zhang, who becomes the first Chinese woman to reach the Wimbledon fourth round since Peng Shuai five years ago, the victory marked her first win over a top-20 player this year.
Before this year, the 30-year-old had never won a match at Wimbledon in five attempts. She was also 0-14 at the Slams until she broke through to the 2016 Australian Open quarter-finals.
"Can you believe I never win one match before 2019?" she posted on Twitter.
In the men's doubles on Thursday, Andy Murray, 32, partnered Pierre-Hugues Herbert to a four-set win in their first-round match.
He is returning after hip surgery, and the pair gelled as the match went on and they beat Romanian Marius Copil and Frenchman Ugo Humbert 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-0.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
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