Wimbledon fans watching British No.1 Emma Raducanu competing in her first-round clash against Welsh teenager Mingge Xu were left fuming as the BBC pulled her from the TV. Carlos Alcaraz was engaged in an exciting fifth-set battle with Fabio Fognini on Centre Court.

The defending champion was initially being broadcast on BBC 1 but that channel switched to the six o'clock news. Raducanu vs Xu, which was coming towards the conclusion of the first set, was being shown on BBC 2.

But BBC bosses decided to ditch Raducanu's opener in favour of showing the remainder of Alcaraz's match with Fognini.

It left British fans upset with one supporter writing on X: "Why did BBC stop showing the #raducanu match?????????"

And another sarcastically said: "Thank God the BBC switched from the tight raducanu match to alcaraz dominating the 5th set."

A third commented: "Aaaaand 1 set in they change chanel even though im on iplayer. Such a stupid system! #Wimbledon #bbc."

Meanwhile, other fans were frustrated that the BBC cut away from Alcaraz at such a key point in the match and suggested that the news should have been delayed.

"The BBC’s coverage of Wimbledon does my head in at times. Why do they keep swapping channels during matches? Final set of the Alcaraz match suddenly disappears from BBC One because of the 6pm news. Ridiculous," one angry viewer wrote.

Another said: "Ok, someone tell me where BBC have moved Alcatraz/Foligno match to! It’s be somewhere on iPlayer. Can’t believe they’ve just stopped showing it to bring us the news! #Wimbledon."

BBC bosses would not have expected Alcaraz and Raducanu to be playing at the same time, given Alcaraz was first on Centre Court and Raducanu was last on Court 1.

However, the defending champion needed around four-and-a-half hours to beat Fognini, while the two matches on Court 1 before Raducanu were wrapped up in straight sets.

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