'That's not fair!' - Why Iga Swiatek proved 'right' despite chair umpire ruling against her in French Open clash with Aryna Sabalenka at Roland-Garros

Iga Swiatek unsuccessfully challenged the chair umpire over a contentious call during her French Open semi-final against Aryna Sabalenka, despite being right. The Pole, the four-time champion at Roland-Garros, was a set down but a break up in the second set when she deemed a Sabalenka serve had dropped long. The chair umpire, however, ruled that Swiatek had taken too long to lodge her complaint.

Watch as Swiatek is stunned over umpire's call as controversial decision halts match

Video credit: TNT Sports

There was a moment of controversy at the French Open as Iga Swiatek got into a heated discussion with the chair umpire during her semi-final loss to Aryna Sabalenka.

With the Pole a set down but a break up in the second against the world No. 1, she hit a forehand return long, before going to check on the mark left by Sabalenka’s serve.

She then turned to Kader Nouni, the chair umpire, and gestured for him to come down to the court for further inspection.

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However, Nouni asserted himself to Swiatek, the four-time champion at Roland-Garros, telling her that he would not come down because he thought that she was looking at the wrong mark, and that she had taken too long to point out that she thought the serve had landed outside the box.

"You waited for the ball to go out, and then when it went out, you went over," Nouni said to the protesting Pole.

"It’s here, but I won’t go down. Iga, I’m not going down. Because I told you. We play, and then we go. I saw you [point to the wrong mark]".

'It's not fair!' - Controversy explained as Swiatek 'was right' over umpire's call

Video credit: TNT Sports

The incident clearly upset Swiatek so much that as she made her way back to her chair for the changeover, she remarked "that’s not fair!" as she passed Nouni.

No further words were exchanged, although Swiatek, the fifth seed at Roland-Garros, did not look best pleased as she prepared to serve at 4-3.

In the TNT Sports commentary box, Naomi Cavanday came to Swiatek’s defence, stating that players often have more time to contest calls on clay due to Hawk-Eye not being used in Paris.

Watch as Sabalenka wins dramatic opening set in breaker against Swiatek

Video credit: TNT Sports

"Ooh, interesting," Cavanday said as she watched the situation unfold.

"He’s saying, no, I’m not coming down, you took too long. He is saying that she’s got the wrong mark, and that she took too long.

"Different umpires react differently in that situation. Particularly on the clay, players are given a lot more time.

"He was having none of it there, saying, 'you waited till the ball was out and then said come and check the mark'. I feel like players do that all the time on clay.

"Swiatek made her feelings perfectly clear to the umpire saying 'it was not fair and you should have come and checked the mark'.

"I can confirm that we have spoken to Hawkeye, and she was right."

Later, in her post-match press conference, Swiatek doubled down on her view that "I don't think that was fair".

"Well, he was coming down to check every mark when Aryna wanted to, even when the outs were like that," she said. "When I had a mark that was out, he was convincing me that I only came there because I saw that my return was out, and I framed the return.

"I knew from the beginning that it's going to be out, you know. I didn't really look at the ball. I just went to check the mark, and I saw the mark was out. I want him to come down, but he didn't.

"So I don't think that was fair, especially when he came down, like, every time Aryna asked him to. I don't get it, but I don't really care."

Highlights: Sabalenka downs Swiatek in deciding set to reach first Roland-Garros final

Video credit: TNT Sports

Swiatek started terribly on Court Philippe-Chatrier, being broken in her opening three service games to trail 4-1 in the first set.

However, she showed great character to fight back and force a tie-break, which Sabalenka ran away with 7-1.

She did manage to channel her anger into levelling the scores in the second, taking it 6-4 to force a decider.

The final set was one-way traffic, though, as Sabalenka ran through six unanswered games to end the reign of Swiatek in Paris.

In what will be her first French Open final, Sabalenka will take on either world No. 2 Coco Gauff or surprise package Lois Boisson, who stunned sixth seed Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-finals.

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