Chinese wildcard to the Indian Wells Yibing Wu clinched his position in the second round, beating Spaniard Jaume Munar in a thrilling four-set match at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Wednesday. However, to expect that drama does not follow tennis everywhere would be to think of a fool’s paradise. As the match progressed with palpable tension, controversy broke out at the match point over accusations of preferential treatment.

As Clar prepared to hit his final shot of the third set, Yibing Wu crashed into the net, dropping his racket. As Wu took the match point, Clar went ballistic and approached the referee Aurélie Tourte with complaints about partiality meted out on the court.

Jaume Munar calls out umpire Aurélie Tourte over preferential treatment of Yibing Wu

With the tie-break of the third set that ended with a score of 7-3 in favor of Yibing Wu, Munar was frustrated, to say the least. In the last moment, Wu smashed a volleyball shot across the net to Munar, definitive that he would miss it. However, in doing so, he dropped the racket and touched it to the base of the net. This happened before the ball had a chance to drop for a second time on the ground. Munar immediately approached the French referee with his complaint.

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However, Aurélie Tourte made it clear that Munar was right. Only she did not agree with the rest of his statement. She made it clear that the racket did crash into the net, but not before the ball dropped in Munar’s court twice. Munar was not satisfied with this response and asked for the intervention of a supervisor. However, that would still make no difference.

On Instagram, the clips of this event immediately went viral, with even Luis Patino reacting in Munar’s favor. He said, “His racquet touched the net before the second bounce on match point”.

Fans in support of Yibing made comments like- “Munar has no play on the ball, and Wu’s racket hit the net after it slipped out of his hand, NOT on his swing/shot. Take the L and don’t cry,” and advised Munar to be a better sport.

Fans even stressed procedures to fine referees and the need for instant match replay systems in tennis, like cricket or football. They said, “Refs need to start getting fined ASAP! ” and “Need instant replay systems like in other sports”.

However, other than this unfortunate situation, Wu and Munar played to the best of their sportsmanship. With the final scoreboard reading 6-7 (6), 6-0, 7-6 (3), Munar stands defeated while Wu progresses to the second round of Indian Wells.

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