'OH MY GOODNESS!': 10TH SEED HELD BACK BY OFFICIAL AFTER POSTPONEMENT DRAMA

A livid Ben Shelton had to be held back by a tournament official. (Jose Morgado/X)

Wimbledon has yet again found itself at the centre of scheduling controversy after Ben Shelton was stripped of the chance to serve out the match against Aussie Rinky Hijikata.

Leading 6-2, 7-5, 5-4 on Court 2, Shelton was ready to serve his way into the third-round at Wimbledon, but the tournament supervisor quickly intervened to inform both players of the decision to suspend play until the following day.

Moments before, the big-serving American had three consecutive match points at 5-3, 0-40, yet couldn't capitalise.

Poor lighting due to darkness was the reason expressed by the supervisor, but Shelton was having none of it as he furiously protested, with a tournament official forced to hold him back from further confrontation.

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The match paused at 9:30pm local time, meaning Shelton and Hijikata will return to the same court on Day 5 to complete the match, which could potentially take as little as a couple of minutes to conclude.

ESPN commentator and former world No.4 James Blake couldn't quite process the split-second call.

"This is painting themselves into a corner," he said about the officials.

"Now, Ben is furious that they're stopping, 5-4, when he has to come out cold to serve 5-4."

Another former American player part of the ESPN commentary team, Coco Vandeweghe, also weighed in.

"If I'm Ben Shelton, I'm really furious right now that I'm not able to serve it out," she said. "Four points, four serves, it could be over in a matter of minutes."

In round one earlier this week, the match between Taylor Fritz and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard was postponed at 10:17pm local time, despite the tournament curfew not coming into effect until 11pm.

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