In tennis, a bagel is when the set ends with a score of 6–0.^[1] An extremely rare type of bagel, where no point is lost, is called a golden set. Most bagel sets occur in the early rounds of tennis tournaments where the favorites play lower-ranked players, such as lucky losers or wild cards.

Etymology

The term refers to the similarity between the shape of a zero and the shape of a bagel. The tennis term was coined by player Harold Solomon, and popularized by commentator Bud Collins.^[2]

Surface disparity

Statistics of the men's singles Grand Slam tournaments from 2000 to 2016 are as follows: at Wimbledon (grass surface), 127 bagels were made; at French Open (clay surface), 267; at the US Open Tennis Championship (hard surface), 275, and at the Australian Open (hard surface), 238.. Björn Borg (five-time Wimbledon champion and six-time French Open champion) recorded 20 6–0 sets at the French Open, and only 5 at Wimbledon.

Double bagel

Women's singles

For women in Grand Slam tournaments, a double bagel result is possible as the matches are best of three sets. In the Open Era, there has been a women's singles Grand Slam tournament match with a double bagel every year except for in 1968 and 2005. The most double bagels were in the seasons of 1974 and 1993, when eight matches had a result of 6–0, 6–0.

The following players had at least five double-bagels in Grand Slam singles events:

#	Player
14	Suzanne Lenglen
	Margaret Court
13	Chris Evert
10	Helen Wills-Moody
7	Steffi Graf
6	Kim Clijsters
	Mary Pierce
5	Monica Seles
	Conchita Martínez
	Maria Sharapova

Between No. 1 ranked players

Men

Winner	Opponent	Event
Ivan Lendl	Jimmy Connors	1984 Forrest Hills[3]

Women

Winner	Opponent	Event
Chris Evert	Martina Navratilova	1981 Amelia Island[4]
Chris Evert	Tracy Austin	1982 East Rutherford[5]
Steffi Graf	Tracy Austin	1994 Indian Wells
Martina Hingis	Monica Seles	2000 Miami Open
Lindsay Davenport	Maria Sharapova	2005 Indian Wells[6]
Kim Clijsters	Dinara Safina	2011 Australian Open
Iga Świątek	Karolína Plíšková	2021 Rome

Triple bagel

•    = also won the tournament.

There have been at least 17 best-of-five-set matches which have lasted 18 games (6–0, 6–0, 6–0), colloquially referred to as a "triple bagel", in the Open Era.^[7] This is the shortest possible length for a best-of-five-set match, not including retirements or defaults.

Year	Grand Slam	Round	Winner	Loser
1968	French Open	1R	Nikola Špear	Daniel Contet
1973	Davis Cup	Z1	Gondo Widjojo	Tao Po
1981	Davis Cup	PO	Thierry Tulasne	Shinichi Sakamoto
1984	Davis Cup	1R	Emilio Sánchez	Kamel Harrad
1987	French Open	2R	Karel Nováček	Eduardo Bengoechea
1987	Wimbledon	1R	Stefan Edberg	Stefan Eriksson
1987	US Open	1R	Ivan Lendl	Barry Moir
1989	Davis Cup	3R	Hamed-ul-Haq	Faisal Rahman
1991	Davis Cup	1R	Michael Walker	Dishan Herath
1993	French Open	2R	Sergi Bruguera	Thierry Champion
1998	Davis Cup	2R	Gouichi Motomura	Teo Susnjak
1999	Davis Cup	PO	Lin Bing-Chao	Nasser Al-Khelaifi
2001	Wimbledon	Q3	Todd Woodbridge	Johan Örtegren
2005	Davis Cup	2R	Ricardo Mello	David Josepa
2009	Davis Cup	PO	Rui Machado	Valentin Rahine
2011	Davis Cup	2R	Andy Murray	Laurent Bram
2016	Davis Cup	1R	Jarkko Nieminen	Courtney John Lock
2016	Davis Cup	1R	Emilio Gómez	Adam Hornby

Records

Grand Slam tournaments

Men's singles

In the history of the Grand Slam tournaments in the men's single category, the largest number of 6–0 sets won is the following:^[8]

#	Player
50	Andre Agassi
47	Roy Emerson
46	Roger Federer
	Novak Djokovic
44	Jimmy Connors
	Rafael Nadal
42	Ivan Lendl
41	John Bromwich
40	Bill Tilden
35	Björn Borg

At individual majors the players with the most 6–0 sets are:

• Australian Championship: 1. R. Federer – 17; 2. Jack Crawford (Australia) – 16; 3. A. Agassi; N. Djokovic – 15
• French Open: 1. R. Nadal – 24; 2–3. B. Borg, G. Vilas – 20 each; 4–5. Jaroslav Drobný (Czechoslovakia / Egypt), R. Lacoste – 17 each.
• Wimbledon: 1. R. Emerson – 15; 2–3. J. Connors, B. Tilden – to 12.
• US Championship: 1. J. Connors – 22; 2–3. I. Lendl, B. Tilden – 20 each.

Australian Neale Fraser won at least one 6–0 set in 16 Grand Slam tournaments in a row: starting with the 1957 Australian Championship and ending with the 1960 US championship.

Women's singles

In the women's singles, the largest number of 6–0 sets won:

#	Player
106	Chris Evert
89	Margaret Court
72	Martina Navratilova
71	Steffi Graf
64	Serena Williams
57	Helen Wills-Moody
54	Monica Seles
49	Maria Sharapova
46	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
44	Gabriela Sabatini

In individual tournaments of the Grand Slam, the largest number of 6–0 sets won is:

• Australian Championship: 1. M. Court – 25; 2. M. Sharapova – 16; 3. S. Williams – 14.
• French Open: 1. C. Evert – 26; 2. A. Sanchez – 22; 3. G. Sabatini – 21.
• Wimbledon: 1–2. Suzanne Lenglen (France), C. Evert – to 29; 3. M. Court – 25.
• US Championship: 1. C. Evert – 43; H. Wills-Moody – 31; 3. M. Court – 27.

All tournaments

Men's singles

#	Bagels[9]
479	Bill Tilden
464	Josiah Ritchie
280	Anthony Wilding
266	Frank Parker
245	Jaroslav Drobny
224	Roy Emerson
216	Ken Rosewall
209	John Bromwich
197	Jimmy Connors
186	Gardnar Mulloy

#	Double Bagels[10]
106	Bill Tilden
87	Josiah Ritchie
51	Anthony Wilding
42	John Bromwich
37	Frank Parker
32	Jaroslav Drobny
25	George Worthington
24	Wayne Sabin

#	Triple Bagels[11]
11	Bill Tilden
5	Karel Kozeluh
4	Arthur Gore
	Josiah Ritchie
	Harry Parker
	Gordon Lowe
	Bob Hewitt

Trivia

• In 1910 in Bruxelles Max Decugis beat Tony Wilding 3–6, 0–6, 7–5, 6–0, 6–0. Wilding was winning 6–3, 6–0, 5–0.
• In 1948 Don Budge won the first match against George Hudson 6–0, 6–0, 6–0 at the US Professional Championship, and against Jerome Adler 6–0, 6–0, 6–1 in the second round.
• In 1969, in the second round of Wimbledon, top seed Rod Laver began with the loss of the first two sets to the unseeded Indian Premjit Lall. However, the game ended in his favor with a score of 3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–0, 6–0.
• There are five cases in the history of tennis (two of which occurred in the French Open in one tournament), when the winner of the match lost 2 bagel sets:^[12]
  • 1935 (U.S. Pro Tennis Championship) Bill Tilden – Karel Koželuh 0–6, 6–1, 6–4, 0–6, 6–4 ^[13]
  • 1962 (Tasmanian Championship) Rod Laver – Neale Fraser 7–5, 0–6, 0–6, 6–1, 6–2
  • 1969 (French Open) Stanley Matthews – Ilie Nastase 6–3, 0–6, 0–6, 6–4, 8–6
  • 1969 (French Open) Dennis Ralston – Patricio Rodríguez 6–2, 6–4, 0–6, 0–6, 6–4
  • 1981 (US Open) José Luis Clerc – Mel Purcell 6–3, 0–6, 0–6, 6–4, 6–3
• In 1981, in the first round of the US championship Jimmy Connors, who in the mid-70s almost married Chris Evert, beat her then-husband John Lloyd with a score of 6–0, 6–0, 6–2.^[14]
• Suzanne Lenglen won 9 tournaments in which she did not lose a single game in all matches.^[15]
• Guillermo Vilas won 2 matches with a score of 6–0, 6–0 in 2 consecutive seasons (1980 and 1981).^[16]
• Björn Borg won 116 6–0 sets during his career ^[17]
• Two women's finals in the history of the Grand Slam tournaments have ended with a double-bagel:^[18]
  • 1911 (Wimbledon) Dorothea Lambert-Chambers – Dora Boothby 6–0, 6–0
  • 1988 (French Open) Steffi Graf – Natasha Zvereva 6–0, 6–0
• Swiss tennis player Martina Hingis achieved her first Olympic bagel in singles in 1996, and the second in doubles twenty years later.
• Spanish tennis player Conchita Martínez scored the first double bagel against a player inside the top ten in Hamburg in 1995 when she defeated Magdalena Maleeva.
• Polish tennis player Iga Świątek scored the first double bagel in a WTA 1000 final, defeating top ten Czech player, and former world number 1, Karolína Plíšková in Rome.

References