NEW YORK, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Australian Samantha Stosur lost the longest tiebreaker 17-15 in women's Grand Slam, bt managed to reach the US Open quarterfinals for the second consecutive year by outlasting Russian 25th seed Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-7(15), 6-3 in two hours and 37 minutes.
The second set alone lasted 84 minutes and was decided by the longest ever tiebreak in women's tennis at a Grand Slam level.
The ninth-seeded Stosur had five match points in the epic second set tie-breaker, but was dragged into the deciding set, where the Australian won the contest on her eighth match point when Kirilenko hit her backhand wide.
The longest tie-break was just the latest record for Stosur, who won the longest women's singles match in tournament history in the third round on Friday night against Nadia Petrova, lasting three hours and 17 minutes and played in the latest finish in New York last year against Elena Dementieva in the fourth round.
Stosur led 5-0 after 17 minutes, exactly the same imposing numbers that Serena Williams posted on her way to her third round win over fourth seed Victoria Azarenka on Saturday.
The Australian hot streak cooled off but still won the opening set by the half hour mark, having landed 10 winners to her opponent's one.
Kirilenko worked her way back into the contest with Stosur receiving a code violation for an audible obscenity after dropping her serve to trail 4-3 in the second set, but she broke back to force a tiebreaker.
In the final set, Stosur broke Kirilenko's serve in the fifth game and claimed a 4-2 lead.
The Australian earned three match points on Kirilenko's serve and sealed the third win on her third opportunity.
Stosur will play the winner of between last year's finalist Vera Zvonareva and German 22nd seed Sabine Lisicki.
