Daria Snigur came back from four match points down to beat Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday. Snigur sealed it 15-13 in a third-set tiebreak that lasted longer than any regular first-to-seven tour-level third-set breaker in eight years.
The win was only Snigur's first tour-level clay-court match, but it was the kind that can change how a draw looks overnight. Kasatkina, a former Roland Garros semifinalist, entered as the No. 98 player against the No. 100-ranked Snigur, and the match swung back and forth until Snigur finally converted her seventh match point.
Snigur's effort now stands as the sixth-longest tour-level third-set tiebreak of the century so far, matching the length set when Donna Vekic beat Fanny Stollar 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 in Washington in 2018. It also capped a week in which Snigur had already found a first breakthrough on clay, beating Hanne Vandewinkel in qualifying for her first Top 100 clay-court win.
That makes the second round a far steeper ask. Snigur is scheduled to face No. 4 seed Iga Swiatek next, with the momentum of one of the most demanding wins of her career and the burden of a quick turnaround on the Madrid clay.