Flavio Cobolli defeated Stan Wawrinka 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 6-3 in controversial fashion as second-round action at the Rolex Shanghai Masters wrapped up on Monday night.
However, it was a controversy that no one directly involved with the match ever noticed.
With Wawrinka serving at 0-1 in the third set, the 39-year-old Swiss began the game with a service winner. Chair umpire Carlos Bernardes, still distracted by Cobolli asking for some electrolytes at the next changeover, failed to punch in the score following the first point–instead using his radio to call for Cobolli’s electrolytes. After the next point, which Cobolli won, Bernardes entered the score as 0-30 instead of 15-15. No one on the court–not the players, not the coaches, not the umpire, not the supervisor–caught the error.
Sure enough, Cobolli went on to break serve–converting break point at 30-40 when it should have been 40-30. It turned out to be the only break of the entire match.
Cobolli’s two-hour and 30-minute victory sends him through to a third-round matchup with Novak Djokovic on Tuesday.
