The match ended 10–7 because ATP doubles replace a full third set with a 10-point match tie-break when each team has won one set. The numbers 10 and 7 are points in that decider, not games in an abbreviated set.
That is what happened in Washington on July 27, 2026. Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski beat Diego Hidalgo and Ben Shelton 6–2, 3–6, 10–7 in the opening round of the ATP 500 event. The score contains two conventional sets followed by one compact race to 10 points.
The first two scores forced a decider
Tennis scores are written from the listed winners’ side, so Harrison and Skupski won the first set 6–2 and lost the second 3–6. Hidalgo and Shelton therefore took the second set 6–3, leaving each pair with one set.
In many best-of-three matches, that creates a full deciding set. The players return to zero games, try to reach six games, and usually need a two-game lead or the event’s prescribed tie-break at 6–6.
ATP Tour doubles use a different format. A Match Tie-break replaces the full third set once the teams are tied at one set apiece. No team needed to win six games in Washington. The next individual rally produced the first point of the match tie-break, and play continued point by point until one pair had won it.
Why 10–7 was enough to finish
The target is not merely 10. The match tie-break is first to at least 10 points with a lead of two, as set out in the 2026 Rules of Tennis. At 10–7, Harrison and Skupski had reached 10 and led by three, so the match was over.
A 10–9 score would not end it because the lead would be only one point. The teams would continue until somebody built the required two-point gap. Possible final scores include 11–9, 12–10 or 15–13. This is the same win-by-two idea seen at deuce, although the scoring and service rotation are those of a tie-break.
Scoreboards sometimes label this segment a “match tie-break,” “10-point tie-break” or “super tie-break.” The first two are clearer for this result. “Super tie-break” is common speech, but it can obscure where the tiebreak occurred and which competition rule produced it.
A regular set tie-break is a different race
A familiar set tie-break normally arrives after the players or teams reach 6–6 in games. It is usually first to seven points, again with a two-point margin. Winning that tie-break completes the set 7–6.
The written score preserves both levels. In 7–6(4), the seven and six count games in the set, while the four in parentheses records the losing side’s points in the tie-break.
Washington’s final 10–7 has no preceding third-set game score because the match tie-break replaced that set altogether. It was not a regular 6–6 set tie-break, and Harrison and Skupski did not win a third set by ten games to seven. They won a deciding sequence by ten points to seven.
Grand Slam 10-point tiebreaks start later
The same 10-point target can appear in another setting. In Grand Slam singles, the players contest the deciding set in games first. If that set reaches 6–6, they then play a first-to-10, win-by-two tie-break. The four Grand Slams adopted that uniform final-set system in 2022.
That produces a score such as 7–6(10–7) in the deciding set, depending on the scoreboard’s style. The set reached six games all before the 10-point tie-break began. By contrast, the Washington doubles decider began immediately after the second set and replaced every game that a full third set would have contained.
The phrase “10-point tiebreak” describes the scoring target while leaving its place in the match open. Some events use it as a match tie-break in place of a deciding set, and others use it only after that set reaches 6–6. The ATP doubles rules supply the answer for this Washington result, while other tours, levels and draws may use another format.
The score line reveals which format was used
Look at what comes before the 10-point score. If two conventional sets were split and the next standalone segment is 10–7, it is probably a match tie-break replacing the deciding set. If a set first reaches 6–6 and then includes a 10-point decider, the players actually contested the final set before the tie-break began.
Washington’s line tells the whole story in miniature. Harrison and Skupski took one set, Hidalgo and Shelton took one, and the tournament called for points rather than games to break the tie. Three more points than their opponents were enough to turn an unfamiliar 10–7 into “game, set and match.”
