Tara Moore completes one of the greatest comebacks in tennis history from 6-0, 5-0 down facing match point

Moore, the world No 479, was on the verge of a humiliating thrashing by the French third seed Jessika Ponchet at the ITF World Tour event in Sunderland, losing 6-0, 5-0 and facing a match point at 30-40

Tara Moore is the world No 479 (Getty)

A tennis match is never over so long as there is one more point to play, and on Tuesday Britain’s Tara Moore proved it with one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of the sport.

Moore, the world No 479, was on the verge of a humiliating thrashing by the French third seed Jessika Ponchet at the ITF World Tour event in Sunderland, losing 6-0, 5-0 and facing a match point at 30-40.

But the 26-year-old not only recovered to win the game, but fought back to win the set in a tight tie-break before clinching the deciding set and the match 0-6, 7-6(7), 6-3.

Moore will face either German Yana Morderger or Romania’s Elena-Teodora Cadar in the second round.

Famous comebacks

Ivan Lendl came back from two sets down to beat John McEnroe to the 1984 French Open title at Roland Garros. Argentina’s Gaston Gaudio pulled off a similar feat against his compatriot Guillermo Coria in the 2004 final.

Jimmy Connors also pulled off a remarkable comeback during the 80s, having been down 6-1, 6-1, 4-1 to Sweden’s Mikael Pernfors at Wimbledon in 1987.

Perhaps more extraordinary still was Jana Novatna’s collapse during the 1995 French Open. At one set all, Novatna stormed clear in the decider and was winning 5-0, 40-0 with three match points when America’s Chanda Rubin achieved the unthinkable. She eventually saved nine match points en route to winning the third set 8-6.