LONDON (Reuters) – Lesia Tsurenko dropped to the ground in exhaustion following her Wimbledon third-round win over Ana Bogdan on Friday, a dramatic clash in which she saved five match points and won the longest tiebreak in women’s singles Grand Slam history.
The Ukrainian and her fellow unseeded opponent from Romania split the opening two sets but an incredible battle for the ages unfolded at 6-6 as Tsurenko dug deep into her reserves to win 4-6 6-3 7-6(18).
Tsurenko saved five match points and converted her seventh to secure victory after a lengthy final point, prompting the crowd on Court 14 to cheer wildly as the Ukrainian lay on the ground breathing heavily and her opponent waited at the net.
The pair shared a warm hug after a match lasting three hours and 40 minutes.
The previous longest tiebreak in a women’s Grand Slam singles match was 36 points, in the opening set of Denisa Allertova’s win over Johanna Konta in the first round of the 2015 French Open.
Friday’s tiebreak matched the 38-point one in the first set of Andy Roddick’s victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 2007 Australian Open first round.
American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut fought out the longest match of all time in the first round of Wimbledon in 2010, the pair battling for 11 hours and five minutes across three days before Isner took the fifth set 70-68.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
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