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via Reuters

via Reuters

Tournaments, arenas, and balls are some aspects that spectators are quite used to witnessing a change in. But sometimes, even the unexpected factors of a tennis match happen to change unexpectedly, acting as a surprise for both the players and the fans. As tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas is making highlights for his ongoing love story, his brother, Pavlos Tsitsipas got into a historical moment recently.

A tennis match has several dimensions that are universally the same, including the number of sets, games, and points to clinch a victory. However, sometimes players, because of any possible reasons, decide to retire from the match before even waiting to see where it goes. A recent match that involved Pavlos Tsitsipas, ended up on a similar note, giving a totally unexpected surprise to the fans.

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ brother shocks the tennis world with a 1 minute-match win

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A tennis match usually lasts for about two hours, leading up to the regular number of sets that decide a side’s victory. But sometimes, it can end much sooner. That’s what happened in the M25 Heraklion ITF tournament, where a match finished just after just three points.

Greek player Alexandros Skorilas ranked 722  in the world, decided to take an unexpected retirement against Pavlos Tsitsipas, the younger brother of world number six Stefanos Tsitsipas. The match, lasting only for one minute, made it one of the shortest and fastest matches in tennis history.

Is this match the shortest and fastest in history?
byu/feliks_aviv intennis

It is not clear why Skorilas decided to quit the match so early. He had won the first point with a forehand winner but then lost the next two points to Tsitsipas. He then shook hands with his opponent and the umpire and walked off the court. Tsitsipas, who didn’t have the smallest idea of gaining such an easy victory, advanced to the next round of the tournament without even breaking a sweat.

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However, as the match lasted for just one minute, fans and critics are now in an argument over it being the shortest match in tennis history.

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The argumentative match: Shortest ever or just another?

This is not the first time that a tennis match has ended in such a quick fashion. In 1946, Jack Harper won a match in just 18 minutes. He was playing against J. Sandiford at the Surrey Open Hard Court Championships in England. Harper did not give his opponent any chance to score. He won 6-0, 6-0, and only lost one point in the whole match. This is the shortest match on record.

Besides that, In 2001, Francisco Clavet broke another record. He was playing against Jiang Shan at the Heineken Open Shanghai in China. Clavet also won 6-0, 6-0, but he did it even faster than Harper. He finished the match in 25 minutes, which is the shortest match in an ATP tournament.

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Although none of these record short matches lie anywhere close to the one that occurred recently at the M25 Heraklion ITF, the debate lies on the technicalities that the match ended with a withdrawal and not fully commenced.

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