The Australian Open’s move to kill off advantage sets and introduce ‘super tie-breakers’ to break the deadlock in men’s and women’s matches has been widely condemned by tennis fans.

From next month’s tournament at Melbourne Park, a tie-breaker will be employed when the score reaches 6-6 in the fifth set of men’s matches, and the third set of women’s matches.

Lauren Davis feels the strain in her marathon match against Simona Halep. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The move means the four grand slams will operate with four different scoring systems to decide a match that has well and truly gone the distance.

The French Open now stands alone as the only major to require players to play out the final set until one leads by two games – also the previous format for the Australian Open and Wimbledon.