Set rules

• A match is played to a set number of sets won — from 1 to 5, chosen by the club.
• “First to 2 sets” means at most 3 sets, “first to 3” at most 5. A single-set match ends with that set.

A walkover and a retirement are matches that did not end with a normal score. The scoring page explains how they count in the table.

• A set is won by whoever first reaches the set number of games, e.g. 6, at least two games ahead — 6:4 or 7:5.
• When both reach a level score, e.g. 6:6 or 10:10, the rule for a level set chosen by the club decides — described below.

The club picks one of three ways:

• Tiebreak — at a level score, e.g. 6:6, a tiebreak to 7 points with a two-point margin is played; the set ends 7:6.
• Advantage — play goes on until someone is two points ahead, e.g. 12:10.
• Deciding point — no advantage: at a level score, e.g. 10:10, the next point ends the set — 11:10.

• The last, deciding set can be shorter than the others. Most often it is a super tiebreak — played to 10 points with a two-point margin.
• A super tiebreak counts as one set. In the game balance its score is scaled to a normal set, e.g. 10:8 with sets to 6 counts as 6:5.
• The club can also set a different short deciding set, with its own length and level-score rule, e.g. to 6 with a deciding point at 5:5.

• In these sports a set is a race to a number of points, e.g. 11 — there are no games.
• In tables and balances “games” then mean rally points: a set won 11:9 is 11 points won and 9 lost.

This is how the Set rules row looks on a tournament or league page — three examples:

When the groups and the knockout have different rules, the row shows both: “group phase: …; knockout phase: …”.