Zheng Qinwen’s French Open quarterfinal loss to World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka might have been influenced by a crucial decision by the chair umpire. At 4-5 down in the first set, and the game score at 30-30, Zheng called a halt to the play, believing that Sabalenka’s shot had cleared the baseline. Umpire Paula Vieira Souza scurried to check the mark and declared the ball in.
Hawkeye disagreed with Souza, suggesting the ball had just caught the line, but was overruled. The incident happened at a pivotal moment in the match, as Sabalenka was awarded a set point. To Zheng’s credit, she didn’t allow the controversial call to affect her and served out the game to force a tie-breaker.
From that moment, however, top-seed Aryna Sabalenka took the match by the scruff of the neck, bossing the tie-break 7-3, and dominating the second set to win 7-6(3), 6-3. The crucial first-set incident was picked up by The Tennis Letter‘s X account, which suggested that Zheng’s momentum in the match might have been affected by the umpire’s intervention:
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"Qinwen Zheng stopped play at 4-5, 30-30 because she thought Aryna Sabalenka’s ball was out. The umpire comes to check it and she says the ball was in. Hawkeye disagrees with the umpire’s decision. This call gave Aryna a set point… crucial moment."
Ultimately, Zheng regained her composure to save the set-point and save her serve. Some of the fans, however, disagreed with the umpire on X. One, Dr. X, suggested the umpire had directly impacted the result, saying:
"Umpire big cheater."
Contradicting that, Vikram Kedlaya's analysis on X confirmed that the umpire's decision was valid, writing:
"Hawkeyes are based on the trajectory, not 100% accurate. On clay, the ball leaving a mark is 100% accurate. In this case if the mark was outside the line, it was out. It's like ground truth vs predicted data in AI."
Across her eight-year career, Sabalenka has won 61.5% of the tie-breaks she's played, so regardless of the controversy, she remained the favorite to win the set.
Aryna Sabalenka remains on course to win her first French Open title
Aryna Sabalenka has had an excellent French Open so far. She's reached only her second semifinal at Roland Garros, after losing in 2023 at the last four stage to Karolina Muchova. This year, the Belarusian powerhouse is yet to lose a set in the tournament, and with questions being asked of clay-court specialist and arch-rival Iga Swiatek, she looked equipped to go all the way this year.
After defeating Zheng, Sabalenka gave an on-court interview in which she suggested that she felt ready to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. She said:
"I think we're all here for one reason. Everyone wants that beautiful trophy. I'm glad I have another opportunity, another semi-final to do better than last time. I really hope that by the end of the claycourt season I'm really proud of myself."
It's not yet known who Aryna Sabalenka will meet in the semifinals. She'll play the winner of Iga Swiatek and Elina Svitolina. If she plays Swiatek, as expected, she'll need to overturn a 1-5 win/loss record against the Pole on the dirt.
