PARIS, March 3: The ATP chief Etienne de Villiers was at the centre of an embarrassing blunder on Friday which left America's James Blake eliminated from the Las Vegas event just as he was looking forward to playing the quarter-finals.

Blake thought his place in the last eight was secure after his Argentine opponent Juan Martin del Potro retired from their round-robin match with the American ahead 6-1, 3-1.

De Villiers, the ATP Chairman and President, had been called in to discuss the matter after Blake and Russia's Yevgeny Korolev had been left level on one win each in their round-robin group.

“The relevant rule states that an incomplete match shall not count as a match played for the retiring player,” said an ATP statement. “This eliminated del Potro based on the tiebreak procedure for greatest number of completed matches and left only Blake and Korolev tied with 1-1 records.

“Therefore, under ATP rules Korolev should have advanced having beaten Blake in their round robin encounter.”

De Villiers admitted his error after it was revealed that the ATP rulebook prevents the chairman and president or any ATP staff member from making a judgment call on the rules.

The final decision at a tournament rests solely with the ATP supervisor. “I was contacted late at night my time and did not fully understand the issues being discussed and I made a judgment call on what seemed fair,” said South African de Villiers. “However, I understand that judgment calls are not part of the rule book and I must abide by the rules, as must everybody else in the circumstance.”—AFP