Video replay blunder: Referee makes wrong decision at US Open

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Tennis Association admitted Sunday that an incorrect decision was made about an illegal shot in a third-round match at the U.S. Open between Anna Kalinskaya and Beatriz Haddad Maia the previous evening because the referee was not shown the relevant replay by the video reviewer.

“After the review was completed, an additional perspective was seen on the broadcast,” said USTA spokesman Brendan McIntyre. “The chairman did not see this footage before making his decision.”

McIntyre said the tournament referee's office had “strongly impressed” on the people who send replays to officials during a game that all “relevant” angles should be passed on.

The point in question came 11 minutes into play on Saturday night at Louis Armstrong Stadium, when 15th-seeded Kalinskaya was leading 2-0 and 22nd-seeded Haddad Maia was serving at deuce.

Russian Kalinskaya hit a drop shot that Brazilian Haddad Maia tried to reach with a run. She hit the ball at about the moment it hit the court. The ball flew over the net and Kalinskaya, apparently distracted by thinking there was something wrong with Haddad Maia's response, swung her racket awkwardly and missed the ball.

The point was awarded to Haddad Maia. Kalinskaya challenged a video review system that was introduced on some courts at the US Open last year for exactly this kind of dispute – not for decisions about the in or out line, but for other things such as whether there was extra impact, whether a player was obstructed or, as in this case, whether a ball bounced off a player's racket and landed first on that player's side of the court before flying over the net. This is called a foul hit.

McIntyre said this was the fifth use of video review at this year's U.S. Open.

Most players believe that such technology should be used in all tournaments to help referees make their decisions.

Play was stopped for four minutes while referee Miriam Bley looked at a replay of Haddad Maia's contact with the ball – which was also shown on Armstrong's scoreboards visible to spectators.

The problem, McIntyre explained, was that Bley could only use the angle to determine whether there had been a double impact before Haddad Maia made contact – which there had not been – but not whether the ball had bounced off her racket, hit her side of the court and gone over the net.

After Bley told the players that Haddad Maia would keep this point, Kalinskaya walked away shaking her head.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as we just saw in the video review, it appears to me that the decision was correct and that the ball touched the racket before hitting the ground a second time,” Bley told the crowd, drawing some boos. “Therefore, the original decision stands.”

Haddad Maia also took the next point and the game, and there were more boos as the two walked to the sideline to change ends.

Haddad Maia finally won the match 6:3, 6:1.