In the fourth round of the US Open Samantha Stosur and Maria Kirilenko played the longest tiebreaker in the history of Grand Slam women’s singles. In the tiebreak Stosur had five match points and saw all of them slip by as Kirilenko won 17-15. The ninth-seeded Stosur recovered from losing the historic set in one hour and 24 minutes and in the final set won the match 6-1 6-7(15) 6-3.
Here’s what Stosur said about the tiebreak:
I lost track of the score, I didn’t know at one point if I should be serving or receiving. With all the challenges it was super-exciting. The crowd was into it. I couldn’t hear myself think.
Stosur’s previous match also made history: her 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 7-5 third round victory over against Nadia Petrova was the longest women’s singles match at the US Open. In that encounter the Australian wasted two match points in the second set and won in the third set on her fifth match point. Each set lasted more than an hour and the match lasted three hours and 16 minutes.
In the quarterfinals Stosur will play 2010 US Open and Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva, who defeated Sabine Lisicki 6-2 6-3. (via BBC, photos: © Neal Trousdale)