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Marta Kostyuk found herself at odds with the chair umpire over a disputed call during her first-round match at the 2024 Stuttgart Open.
Kostyuk took to the court after a month away from action at the Stuttgart Open on April 17 and faced home favorite Laura Siegemund in the opening round of the WTA 500 tournament. The Ukrainian was broken in the first game of the match but recovered well to break Siegemund back twice to take the first set.
Breaks were plentiful in the second set, as both women traded three breaks each to go into a tiebreaker. The German veteran scraped past Kosytuk in the tiebreaker to force a deciding set.
At the beginning of the third set, a dispute emerged as a shot from Kostyuk on a breakpoint on her serve was called out by the linesman. The chair umpire overturned the call after inspection, as the ball had just landed on the baseline. She initially awarded the point to the Ukrainian. However, Siegemund objected and asserted that she had the ball in her reach but did not hit a shot due to the out call.
The umpire accepted Siegemund's point of view and ruled that the point needed to be replayed. Marta Kostyuk was confused by the replay decision and got into an argument with the umpire. The 21-year-old said that Siegemund had missed the return, the linesman's call notwithstanding.
Watch the video below:
The umpire was unmoved by Kostyuk's argument, and the Ukrainian was broken on the replayed point. The contentious call did not do much harm, as Kostyuk broke back Siegemund in the next game and, after plenty of breaks in the third set as well, emerged victorious with a score of 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4 after three hours and 10 minutes.
Marta Kostyuk faces Zheng Qinwen in 2R at Stuttgart Open
Marta Kostyuk will continue her campaign at the 2024 Stuttgart Open on April 18 against No. 5 seed Zheng Qinwen. The Chinese star had little to no trouble in her opening-round match against Sorana Cirstea, dispatching the Romanian 6-2, 6-3.
Kostyuk and Zheng have played each other once before on the WTA Tour, with the latter winning their three-set battle in the opening round of the 2023 Canadian Open. Both players have made great strides since their clash in Canada.
Kostyuk played her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2024 Australian Open and was runner-up at the WTA 500 San Diego Open. Meanwhile, Qinwen Zheng won the biggest title of her career at the WTA 500 Zhengzhou Open in 2023 and qualified for the final of the Grand Slam for the first time in her career at the Melbourne Slam this year.
