By Chris Oddo | Sunday January 13, 2019
The first super tiebreak to end a Grand Slam singles match is in the books and it goes to Great Britain's Katie Boulter.
Score one for the record books--and remember the name for future tennis trivia contests.
Great Britain’s Katie Boulter made history on Monday in Melbourne as the 22-year-old became the first player to win a singles super tiebreak at the Grand Slam level.
The new rule, put into effect prior to this season, demands that a super tiebreak be played at 6-6 in the deciding set of all singles matches.
Most were aware of the rule, but not Boulter, who mistakenly thought she had won when she took a 7-4 lead in the breaker on Monday.
After a brief, confused pause, Boulter got back on the horse and finished off the victory to claim a 6-0, 4-6, 7-6(10-6) win over the Russian (though she did lose the next two points before winning the last three). It was Boulter’s first main draw match win at Wimbledon, and she’ll face Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the second round.
Sabalenka, picked by many experts to win the title in Melbourne, won her first main draw match at Melbourne by knocking off Anna Kalinskaya of Russia, 6-1, 6-4.