Ben Shelton, who was angry during the second round against Wimbledon’s Rinky Hijikata in the second round, was suspended as he was about to serve in the game.
After winning the first two sets 6-2 7-5, the tenth seed Sheldon led 5-4 in the third inning and could end his progress in a few minutes.
But as time approached 21:30, the sun gradually disappeared and the referee announced in two courts that there would be no more games that night, Sheldon and the frustration of the crowd.
The two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist, 22, angrily asked officials about the decision, which meant he had to return on Friday to play a game, a game that denied his resting time all day.
Aside from Sheldon’s worries, he had just lost three match points on Hijikata’s serving field and asked if he could pause the game before the third set began.
Shelton will resume on Friday in the second match on Friday after the third round of Naomi Osaka vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Wimbledon Championship director Jamie Baker defended the decision to stop the game.
He told BBC Sport: “We give players as much time as possible to try to end the game. We’ve been very, very late. It’s very dark.”
“Ultimately, we have a team of officials on the court and they are judging several different factors.
“They just continue to be unhappy with the game in almost complete darkness.
“So we did stick to the decision. Sometimes these things happen. [We have] There are a lot of games to play – it’s definitely the right decision for the officials. ”
