Pavlyuchenkova beats Kartal to reach last eight despite line-calling glitch

LONDON :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, claiming the game had been 'stolen', but showed all of her vast experience to save a set point in the next game and break back before later going on to dominate the tiebreak with some attacking play.

Striking her heavy groundstrokes into the corners, she kept the bustling 23-year-old Kartal on the run for much of the contest and when Pavlyuchenkova won three games in a row from 2-1 down in the second set she finally began to seize control.

Kartal, the last remaining Briton in the women's singles, showed great tenacity to push her opponent hard but the Russian held her nerve at 5-4 to seal an impressive win.

"I always thought I was not good enough on grass, so this is incredible for me. Especially with me getting older, I am so impressed and proud for competing with the younger girls," Pavlyuchenkova, appearing at her 16th Wimbledon, said on court.

"My mental toughness is getting better. I used to be a little bit crazy in my head! But now I am learning to fight point by point."

She certainly showed mental resilience to put aside a moment that could have proved so costly during a tense first set which included six breaks of serve.

OPERATOR ERROR

When Kartal's shot went beyond the baseline at 4-4, Pavlyuchenkova stopped despite the automated voice calling not