Davis Cup to use fifth-set tiebreaker in 2016

Johannesburg : In a bid to shorten the length of matches and encourage participation of top players, the International Tennis Federation announced that it would bring in a fifth-set tie-breaker in the Davis Cup beginning next year. At present, Davis Cup best-of-five set series employs tiebreakers in the first four sets except the fifth one. Earlier in March, Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer claimed an opening round 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 5-7, 15-13 win over Brazilian Joao Souza to bring curtains down on the longest singles match in the history of Davis Cup, Sport24 reported. Meanwhile, the US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament to use tiebreakers in every set of a match.