Lesia Tsurenko saves 5 match points, topples Bogdan in longest ever Grand Slam women's singles tie-break

For those who stuck around Court 14 at Wimbledon on Friday, they were treated to a piece of major history.

Lesia Tsurenko emerged victorious in the longest ever women’s singles tie-break at a Grand Slam event, toppling Ana Bogdan, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (20-18), after staving off five match points to take their third-round tussle in three hours and 40 minutes of grueling play. The previous record, per the International Tennis Federation, was a 36-pointer won by Denisa Allertova over Johanna Konta at 2015 Roland Garros.

The epic conclusion could have been avoided by both players. Bogdan led the third set, 5-3, but was broken at love when serving for the clash. Then in the 12th game, Tsurenko missed her first of seven match points as the Romanian got yet another re-break to send it into a decisive tiebreaker, which operates under first to 10, win by two scoring.

Tsurenko opened a 5-1 lead, only to see it completely evaporate. Bogdan didn’t see a match point until arriving at 12-11, having saved four of her own by then.

The Ukrainian has now reached the round of 16 at consecutive majors. At Roland Garros, she knocked out Barbora Krejcikova and Bianca Andreescu before retiring late in the first set of her encounter with Iga Swiatek with a breathing issue. This marks Tsusrenko’s best showing at SW19 in 11 career appearances.