Alexandrova wins first triple-tiebreak Wimbledon match in Open Era

LONDON, England — Ekaterina Alexandrova’s 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 7-6[7] victory over Madison Brengle didn’t just put the No.21 seed into the third round of Wimbledon for the first time, but into the history books as well.

The result was the first women’s singles match at Wimbledon in the Open Era that required three tiebreaks to decide. Such a score line has only been possible at SW19 since 2019, when a traditional first-to-seven tiebreak was instituted at 12-12 in the final set rather than the set being played out indefinitely. Since 2022, the final set has been decided by a first-to-10 match tiebreak played at 6-6.

Alexandrova trailed 2-0 in the second set and 3-1 in the third set, and was two points from defeat both in the second-set tiebreak and then when Brengle served for the match at 6-5 in the third set. She had held her first three match points on Brengle’s serve at 5-4 in the third set, but eventually converted her fifth after 2 hours and 49 minutes.

A remarkable twist to Alexandrova’s history-making stat is that she has previously struggled in such matches. Before June this year, her record in third-set tiebreaks at tour level was 1-16, with her sole win coming 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(7) over No.216-ranked wild card Elvina Kalieva in the first round of Indian Wells 2022.

Last month, Alexandrova snapped that streak in style, defending her ‘s-Hertogenbosch title 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) in the final against Veronika Kudermetova. Now, she has won consecutive deciding tiebreaks for the first time in her career at tour level and nine out of 10 grass-court matches so far this year.

This result is only the fourth triple-tiebreak women’s singles match at Grand Slams in the Open Era. The other three all came at the US Open, where a tiebreak has been used to decide the final set since 1970:

–Stefanie Graf’s…