MONACO DAVIS CUP teammates Benjamin Balleret and Guillaume Couillard have gone into the tennis record books after playing out a 70-point tiebreak.
The pair made history at a $10,000 International Tennis Federation third-tier clay court event at Plantation, Florida, when they met in the final qualifying round.
Balleret won the match 7-6 (36-34), 6-1 as 37-year-old Couillard eventually wilted.
“Neither of us sensed the first set would last so long. We were both really tight, because we know each other so well. We didn’t want to lose it,” said Balleret, the world number 636.
“When we switched ends during the tie-break, with the score in the 20s and 30s, we were laughing,”
The longest tie-break on record at a tour-level event came in the 1985 Wimbledon doubles first round when Michael Mortensen and Jan Gunnarsson beat John Frawley and Victor Pecci 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (26-24).
