golden set
{{Short description|Tennis set won without losing a point}}
In tennis, a golden set is a set which is won without losing a single point. This means scoring the 24 minimum points required to win the set 6–0, without conceding any points.
In professional tennis, this has occurred twice in the main draw of top-level events. It has also happened a number of times in the pre-tournament qualifiers of the lowest-level events. Bill Scanlon had a golden second set in his win over Marcos Hocevar at the 1983 Delray Beach WCT event. Yaroslava Shvedova had a golden first set in her win over Sara Errani at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships.{{cite news|title=Yaroslava Shvedova joins the exclusive 'golden set' | publisher=BBC Sport Sport|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18665349}} Steffi Graf came close to achieving the feat in the finals of the 1989 Virginia Slims of Washington tournament, winning the first five games to love against Zina Garrison, before winning the match 6–1, 7–5.{{Cite news |title=Graf Trounces Garrison |work=The New York Times |date=20 February 1989 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/20/sports/graf-trounces-garrison.html}} At the 2023 Western & Southern Open, Taylor Fritz won the first five games to love in his round of sixteen match before his opponent, Dusan Lajovic, retired.
A golden match is when a player does not lose a single point in the entire match. There are five documented cases of this at low-level events. Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman did so in the 1910 Washington State Championships, defeating a Miss Huiskamp (first name unknown).All-Time Records, Tennis Magazine, February 1981, page 72 Later it happened twice in France in the qualifiers of lowest-level professional events, two of them in the span of two months, both against the same 55-year-old man, Tomas Fabian.{{cite web|url=http://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Tennis_Stories/37376/joffrey-de-schepper-beat-55yearold-tomas-fabian-60-60-in-one-of-the-fastest-matches-in-tennis-history|title=Joffrey De Schepper beat 55-year-old Tomas Fabian 6–0 6–0 in one of the fastest matches in tennis history!|date=17 October 2016 }} A golden match occurred in the qualifiers of an ITF Men's World Tennis Tour event in Doha in 2019, where Krittin Koaykul beat Artem Bahmet.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/nitkina/2662321.html |title=Украинец заявил друга на теннисный турнир, поставил против него и заработал. Удивительно, но им за это ничего не будет |trans-title=The Ukrainian invited a friend to a tennis tournament, bet against him and made money. Surprisingly, they won't be punished for it |last=Niktin |first=Pavel |date=11 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602180730/https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/nitkina/2662321.html |archive-date=2 June 2024 |url-status=live |access-date=2 June 2024 |language=ru}}{{cite AV media |people=Sport Ukraine |title=Worst Tennis televised performance of all time.. (0-6,0-6 golden match lost 48/48) |date=10 December 2019 |type=video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maA8FQck-AM |access-date=2 June 2024 |publisher=YouTube}} Bahmet was a professional sports bettor who had entered the tournament without having played tennis before; his associate bet against him and won roughly €3,000.
List of occurrences
{{Performance key|short=yes|active=no}}
Main draws of top-level professional events are in boldface.
| class="wikitable sortable" | |||||
| width="180" |Player | width="300" |Event
!Round | width="180" |Opponent | width="100" |Final score | width="100" |Date | width="150" |Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{flagicon|USA|1908}} Hazel Hotchkiss
| 1910 Washington State Championships, Seattle, Washington | style="text-align:center; background:yellow"| SF | {{flagicon|USA|1908}} Mrs. Huiskamp {{small|(first name unknown)}} | 6–0, 6–3 | 12 Aug 1910 | {{Cite news|date=1910-08-13|title=Miss Hotchkiss and Divine Star|page=11|work=The Spokesman-Review|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/566190620/}} | |||||
| {{flagicon|USA|1912}} Pauline Betz
| 1943 Tri-State tournament, Cincinnati, Ohio | style="text-align:center; background:#D8BFD8"| F | {{flagicon|USA|1912}} Catherine Wolf | 6–0, 6–2 | 1943 | |||||
| {{flagicon|USA}} Bill Scanlon
| 1983 Delray Beach WCT | style="text-align:center; background:#afeeee"| 1R | {{flagicon|BRA}} Marcos Hocevar | 6–2, 6–0 | 22 Feb 1983 | Recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. | |||||
| {{flagicon|DEN}} Tine Scheuer-Larsen
| 1995 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone | style="text-align:center; background:#afeeee"| RR | {{flagicon|BOT}} Mmaphala Letsatle | 6–0, 6–0 | 9 May 1995 | |||||
| {{flagicon|KAZ}} Yaroslava Shvedova
| 2012 Wimbledon Championships | style="text-align:center; background:#afeeee"| 3R | {{flagicon|ITA}} Sara Errani | 6–0, 6–4 | 30 Jun 2012 | |||||
| {{flagicon|GER}} Julian Reister
| style="text-align:center"| Q2 | {{flagicon|GER}} Tim Pütz | 6–7(3–7), 6–4, 6–0 | 20 Aug 2013 | Only golden set in third set.{{cite web|url=https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/sport/tennis/tennis-julian-reister-realise-un-historique-golden-set_1275521.html|title=Tennis: Julian Reister réalise un historique "golden set"|date=23 August 2013}}{{cite web|title=Match Stats |url=http://www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/stats/day1/11125ms.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901165743/http://www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/stats/day1/11125ms.html |archive-date=2013-09-01 }} | |||||
| {{flagicon|ITA}} Stefano Napolitano
| 2015 Distal & ITR Group Tennis Cup qualifying | style="text-align:center"| Q2 | {{flagicon|ITA}} Augusto Virgili | 6–0, 6–3 | 7 Jul 2015 | {{cite web|title=Stefano Napolitano's Golden Set (Italian)|url=http://www.livetennis.it/post/214763/il-golden-set-di-stefano-napolitano/}}{{cite web| url=http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/todi-challenger-2015-napolitano-33-points | title =Thirty-Three Points Won In A Row? It Happened. | author =Josh Meiseles | date = 2015-07-09 | access-date = 2015-07-10}} | |||||
| {{flagicon|UKR}} Katarina Zavatska
| 2015 Chang ITF Pro Circuit – Bangkok $25,000 qualifying | style="text-align:center"| Q2 | {{flagicon|THA}} Thanyathorn Putthaun | 6–0, 6–0 | 12 Dec 2015 | | |||||
| {{flagicon|CHN}} He Yecong
| 2016 Qingdao ATP Challenger qualifying | style="text-align:center"| Q2 | {{flagicon|CHN}} Wang Honghan | 6–0, 6–0 | 7 Aug 2016 | |||||
| {{flagicon|FRA}} Benjamin Tullou
| 2016 France F17 Futures qualifying, Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France | style="text-align:center"| Q1 | {{flagicon|CZE}} Tomáš Fabián | 6–0, 6–0 | 3 Sep 2016 | |||||
| {{flagicon|FRA}} Joffrey de Schepper
| 2016 France F23 Futures qualifying, Rodez, France | style="text-align:center"| Q1 | {{flagicon|CZE}} Tomáš Fabián | 6–0, 6–0 | 15 Oct 2016 | Amateur opponent. Fabián won one point, avoiding another golden match against him.{{cite web|url=http://www.tennisactu.tv/news-rodez-itf-joffrey-de-schepper-pas-loin-du-golden-match-62345.html?titre=rodez-itf-joffrey-de-schepper-pas-loin-du-golden-match&id=62345|title=Rodez (ITF) – Joffrey de Schepper pas loin du golden match|website=www.tennisactu.tv}} | |||||
| {{flagicon|VEN}} Luis David Martínez
| 2017 Morelos Open qualifying | style="text-align:center"| Q1 | {{flagicon|MEX}} Manfred Brandes Vogt | 6–1, 6–0 | 18 Feb 2017 | |||||
| {{flagicon|FRA}} Dan Added
| 2018 France F5 Futures qualifying, Poitiers, France | style="text-align:center"| Q2 | {{flagicon|FRA}} Freddy Prioton | 6–0, 6–0 | 11 Mar 2018 | Golden match.{{cite web|url=https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/ATP_Tennis/52743/golden-match-alert-dan-added-writes-history-against-freddy-prioton/|title=Golden match alert! Dan Added writes history against Freddy Prioton|date=12 March 2018 }} | |||||
| {{flagicon|THA}} Krittin Koaykul
| 2019 Doha M15 qualifying, Doha, Qatar | style="text-align:center"| Q1 | {{flagicon|UKR}} Artem Bahmet | 6–0, 6–0 | 8 Dec 2019 | Golden match.https://www.itftennis.com/en/tournament/france-f5-futures/fra/2018/m-fu-fra-05a-2018/draws-and-results/ {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.eurosport.es/tenis/el-peor-tenista-del-mundo-el-desproposito-de-artem-bahmet-en-catar_sto7570418/story.shtml|title=El peor tenista del mundo: El despropósito de Artem Bahmet en Catar|date=9 December 2019}} | |||||
| {{flagicon|USA}} Jessie Aney
| 2021 W60 San Bartolomé de Tirajana qualifying, Spain | style="text-align:center"| Q1 | {{flagicon|FRA}} Heranne Excellent | 6–0, 6–0 | 15 Aug 2021 | |||||
| {{flagicon |
| 2022 W25 Naples, Florida qualifying, USA
| style="text-align:center"| Q2
| {{flagicon|CHN}} Fenni Lian
| 6–0, 6–0
| 17 May 2022
| In the second set.{{cite web | url=https://www.itftennis.com/en/tournament/w25-naples-fl/usa/2022/w-itf-usa-26a-2022/draws-and-results | title=W25 Naples, FL 2022 Tennis Tournament | ITF }}
|-
| {{flagicon|GER}} Emily Seibold
| 2024 W15 Krško main draw, Slovenia
| style="text-align:center; background:#afeeee"| 1R
| {{flagicon|CZE}} Denise Hrdinkova
| 6–3, 6–0
| 16 Jul 2024
|
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