Roland Garros: Was Casper Ruud robbed on set point during defeat to Joao Fonseca?

Roland Garros organisers have been criticised for not using line technology at the French Open following a controversial moment during the Casper Ruud-Joao Fonseca match.

Rising star Fonseca continued his mesmerising run in Paris as he followed up his superb five-set win over 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic in the third round with a four-set win over Ruud in the round of 16.

The 19-year-old broke late in the first set to go one-set up and after the pair traded brakes early in the second set, it went to the tie-breaker and Ruud found himself on set point at 8-7.

Then came the contentious incident as a shout from a spectator in the crowd at Court Philippe-Chatrier made it sound like a Fonseca shot had been called long. Play stopped and the chair umpire went to check the mark and gave it in.

But Hawkeye replays showed the ball was out and instead of winning the set, Ruud lost three points in a row and the Brazilian went up two sets to love.

Although the Norwegian managed to win the third set, Fonseca eventually claimed a 7-5, 7-6 (10-8), 5-7, 6-2 win to secure his first-ever quarter-final in a Grand Slam with Jacob Mensik up next.

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Ruud played down the incident as he said during his post-match press conference: “There was a set point in the second, or two. The forehand shot was very close, it could have been in or out.

“Obviously, it was called in. So if I had won that set, perhaps the score would have been two to one instead of two to one against. Instead of zero to two, it would have been one to one. So, obviously, it’s a pity in my situation.”

Unlike the other Grand Slams that use Hawkeye technology, Roland Garros is determined to stick with tradition by employing line judges.

But former French player Lucas Pouille believes the fact that the Hawkeye images are still available for the public to scrutinise just adds fuel to the flames.

Speaking on Prime Video, he said: “I agree, but this just creates controversy, and that’s the problem. In Casper Ruud’s mind, when he goes to bed and is shown this image, the last thing he’ll want is to see line judges on the court again.

“So this doesn’t serve the tournament’s best interests. Either we have line judges, and there’s no problem, but remove these images because at least then we’ll only think about the umpire’s and line judges’ decisions, and there will be no reason to argue.”

While the general public is unimpressed by organisers’ decision not to use Hawkeye, former world No 17 Fabrice Santoro prefers humans and added: “In principle, I like the Federation’s idea of trying to preserve the refereeing and maintain the human element; however, what I really don’t like is having two refereeing systems in the same sport.

“And when the players sit down at the end of this second set, I think to myself: ‘It’s two sets to zero for Fonseca, but if this match had taken place at the US Open, it would have been one set apiece.’ And that poses a real problem for me.”