Wimbledon 2025: Pavlyuchenkova beats Kartal to reach last eight despite line-calling glitch
Unseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova recovered from being robbed of a crucial point by an automated line-calling malfunction to beat Britain’s Sonay Kartal 7-6(3) 6-4 to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Sunday for the second time.
The Russian former French Open runner-up was left fuming after falling victim to a clear mistake when she held game point at 4-4 on serve in the opening set under the Centre Court roof.
Instead she dropped serve to fall 5-4 behind but showed all of her vast experience to save a set point in the next game and break back before later going on to dominating a tiebreak.
Striking heavy groundstrokes into the corners, she kept the bustling 23-year-old Kartal on the run for much of the contest and won three games in a row from 2-1 down in the second set.
Kartal, the last remaining Briton in the women’s singles, showed great tenacity to push Pavlyuchenkova hard but the Russian held her nerve at 5-4 to seal an impressive win.
Seasoned German Laura Siegemund, the oldest woman left in the Wimbledon singles draw, ended the remarkable run of Argentine lucky loser Solana Sierra with a 6-3 6-2 victory to storm into the quarter-finals on a rain-hit Sunday.
The Court Two clash had barely begun when showers stopped play and both players swapped early breaks having returned after a delay of a little more than an hour before Siegemund took full control by moving through the gears.
The 37-year-old edged in front when Sierra produced a double fault and then unleashed some huge serves to hold for a 5-3 lead in the next game, wrapping up the set with another break in the ninth game.
Sierra, bidding to become the first lucky loser to make the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, found herself in big trouble at 0-3 down in the second set following another rain delay and she buried her face in her towel during a break.
Siegemund was in no mood to show mercy to the world number 101, however, as she pushed on and closed out the victory on her third matchpoint to book a last eight meeting with either top seed Aryna Sabalenka or Belgium’s Elise Mertens.
