In a professional career spanning close to a decade, Tommy Paul is a winner of more than 170 matches. It's doubtful, however, that many of them are as memorable as the one he claimed over Alejandro Tabilo to move into the fourth round of the 2024 Rolex Shanghai Masters.
Trailing by a set and 1-5 over the surging Chilean, Paul dug in to hold his own serve. And when Tabilo served for the match in the following game, the courageous No.13 seed stood his ground with some brave attacking tennis. Both forcing errors and accumulating winners, Paul saved five match points and completed the turnaround on his fourth set point in the tiebreak.
From there, Paul's renowned work ethic - and arguably the confidence boost provided by his spectacular recovery - kicked in. He appeared the fresher player, both mentally and physically, as he closed out a 6-7(2) 7-6(2) 6-2 victory in two hours and 45 minutes.
"Braveheart!" boomed an admiring Frances Tiafoe, when asked to describe his fellow American's comeback win. "Incredible effort. Those wins go a long way, and hopefully he uses that to carry on … that was big."
It's a situation the 17th-ranked Tiafoe knows well. At the Cincinnati Masters in August, the home favourite saved two match points against Holger Rune to reach the final.
"It's a great feeling. You feel invincible for about 24 hours, until the next match starts, you feel like you're living on a second life," said Tiafoe. "Those (matches) are always good. You actually remember those more than, you know, coming out and beating somebody 2-2 or something."
Entering the Rolex Shanghai Masters, there were 90 matches this season in which a player had saved a match point to triumph. Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff had battled the hardest in those encounters, with nine match points saved in his victory over Marin Cilic in Hong Kong.
Nino Borges has been the most successful man on the edge of defeat. Five of the Portuguese player's 2024 matches incorporate match points saved - and three of them have been at ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.
The Rolex Shanghai Masters shows how the highest-level events can bring out a player's best. Match points saves have played a thrilling part in tournament history, with 12 players fighting back over 13 editions of the tournament.
Yosuke Watanuki is another man who added to those statistics this year, with the Japanese wildcard edging past Pavel Kotov as his opponent served for their opening-round match.
John Isner is another player with standout Shanghai memories, the American saving an epic seven match points in his first-round victory over Lukasz Kubot in 2010.
But even more momentous are the players who've saved match points in the most high-stakes Rolex Shanghai Masters occasions.
Hubert Hurkacz's three-set triumph in a dramatic 2023 final saw the Pole save a championship point in the third-set tiebreak. "(I was) just trying to tell myself what to do during, the pointe. Where to play and to stay committed and to trust my shots and, you know, just fight and just battle."
Novak Djokovic fought even harder in 2012, saving five championships as he defeated Andy Murray to claim the first of his four titles in 2012. "Could have easily gone the other way," he said of the absorbing battle, which extended three-and-half hours. "He was five match points up. When I faced those match points, I tried to focus on each individually."
Roger Federer also had to battle back from match point down in his charge to the 2014 title - although not in the final.
After denying Florian Mayer a winning opportunity in their second-round encounter, the Swiss star won all five of his following matches without losing a set.
It shows how a single point can not only change the course of a match but also, at times, the path to tennis history.
