Channel Seven’s “difficult decision” to stick with the Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson Wimbledon match rather than switch to Ash Barty has paid off for the network, which had a ratings peak of 600,000 despite a social media backlash.

The free-to-air network, which has the broadcast rights to the first two picks of Wimbledon matches each day, can only broadcast on one channel so was unable to carry both matches.

Sally Sara (@sallyjsara) Why are we watching Kyrgios when women’s number one in the world is playing? @ashbar96 @channel7 C’mon! #Wimbledon19

Seven chose to stay with what many say was a thrilling men’s match because the audience was so invested in it after two hours that dropping it would infuriate them.

But some viewers were upset they didn’t cover the popular Australian champion’s match against Saisai Zheng in full – instead of just showing excerpts – and vented their feelings on social media.

Channel 7 (@Channel7) Ash Barty is off to a flyer and leads Saisai Zheng 3-0 in the first set. Looking every bit the world No.1. Tune in to catch her EXCLUSIVELY LIVE on 7TWO and then on 7 from 11.30pm pic.twitter.com/wakoQj51KT

Seven allowed Fox Sports, which has the pay TV rights to the next three matches after Seven has made their choice, to screen the Barty match in full. But fans who don’t have a Foxtel subscription could not see the match live.

“Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson were tied in the third set of a thrilling contest when Ash walked on to court,” a Seven spokesman said. “We screened as much of Ash’s one-sided game as we could and enabled Foxtel to broadcast it in full.

“The massive audience ratings on 7TWO, which were comparable to a Wimbledon final, show how engaged Aussies were in the epic five-setter between Kyrgios and Thompson.”

Tennis fans had been promised they would “see the best two matches exclusively live and free each day” but clearly they were not expecting a clash of that magnitude.

Seven said the decision was driven by the timing. The Kyrgios match started at 8.12pm AEST and Barty took to the court two hours later.

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Kyrgios and Thompson, who are both Australian, were locked at 3-3 in the third set by the time Barty came on.

Seven sports broadcaster Mark Beretta said on Sunrise: “It’s like watching a movie for two hours and then just before the finish you change it.

“Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson are slugging it out over five sets. They run long. People have been watching for two hours and, at the climax of the match, we’re gonna say, ‘Let’s go to Ash now’. That’s the difficult decision.

“So what we did, we showed a bit of Ash, and the best of Ash that was happening and the best [of the other match] and we flicked between the two matches until Nick was done and then we went with Ash. That’s how it unfolded. And the nature of our arrangement with Wimbledon is that we can only show one match on one channel at any one time. So it was not an option to show it on two channels.”