Kirilenko wins history-making tiebreaker at Open

NEW YORK — Maria Kirilenko may have lost to Sam Stosur at the U.S. Open on Sunday but at least had the satisfaction of winning the longest tiebreaker between women in Grand Slam history.

The Russian took the second set with a 17-15 tiebreak victory. It fell just short of John McEnroe’s memorable 18-16 fourth-set tiebreaker victory against Bjorn Borg in the 1980 Wimbledon final. Like Kirilenko, McEnroe won the battle but not the war, losing that match.

When Stosur put a forehand in the net, ending the tiebreak, McEnroe — who was commentating on TV — said “there, in a nutshell, is why this is such a great sport.”

That was Kirilenko’s sixth set point. Stosur wasted five match points.