Yaroslava Shvedova Joins Bill Scanlon as Only 2 to Tally Golden Set in Open Era WIMBLEDON, England - The words scrolled across the bottom of the television screen, catching the eye of one very interested observer at the Riviera Tennis Club in Los Angeles. "Wait a second," Bill Scanlon told his friends. Somebody just had a Golden Set? For 29 years, only Scanlon had achieved perfection on a tennis court, winning all 24 points in a set. For 29 years, he had waited - hoped, actually - for someone to duplicate his feat. "Maybe then, people would start to realize how astonishing it is," Scanlon said in an interview Sunday. Mine was the only one, a freak accident for 30 years. Now, she's done it. She is Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, who opened her third-round match at Wimbledon on Saturday against 10th-seeded Sara Errani by reeling off 24 consecutive points, something that no woman had done since the start of the Open era in 1968. Shvedova maintained that she did not realize her dominance until being notified afterward by her coach. To her, it just felt like a "very great set." She was right. It was a very great set. It was also a perfect one. When told of Shvedova's reaction, Scanlon did not seem surprised. In his career, Scanlon was a streaky player, one capable of lapsing into a trancelike state and winning bushels of points in a row. In a tournament final against Peter Fleming, Scanlon said, he lost two points in the second set. In a first-round match at Wimbledon in 1981, he beat Victor Pecci Sr., 7-6, 6-0, 6-0. Less than two years later, on Feb. 22, 1983, Scanlon did not lose a point to Marcos Hocevar in the second set of a first-round match in Delray Beach, Fla. How many perfect games have been thrown in baseball? How many 59s have there been in golf? Scanlon said. There was a time where it was me and Al Geiberger, and then all of a sudden, David Duval and Chip Beck and a few others started shooting 59s, and it became, wow, this is something that's possible but a long way out there. In order for it to be amazing, it has to be possible. Some of the details from his golden day have been lost to the passage of time, but others remain vivid in Scanlon's memory. He was coming off a strong end to the 1982 season, reaching the finals in his last two events. He was under contract to Wilson, which insisted that he switch to a graphite midsize racket because it was phasing out the wooden rackets that Scanlon loved so dearly. On the morning of his match against Hocevar, Scanlon warmed up with Rod Laver using a graphite racket, and he had trouble keeping the ball in the court. "It was so horrible that Rod, who's like the nicest guy in the world, is like, "What's going on, Bill?" " Scanlon said. "I just said: "Oh God, I'm just scared to death with these new rackets." So I panicked, got in the car, went back to the hotel and switched back to my wooden rackets. I went onto the court against Marcos without even hitting a ball with them. In the first set, Hocevar won a game to draw to 3-2. From there, Scanlon said he lost only two points the rest of the set, which he won, 6-2. And if he won all 24 in the second set, that meant he won 36 of the final 38 points. On the final point, they engaged in a long rally. Finally, Scanlon said, he told himself, "enough of this." So he came in on an approach shot to Hocevar's backhand. Hocevar attempted to pass him, but Scanlon hit a winner volley. He, too, thought he had just played a very great set. Then the umpire stopped him as he walked off the court. "It looks like you didn't lose any points in that second set," the umpire told Scanlon, showing him the scorecard. I was so intensely focused on what I was doing, I was in such a zone, that I had no idea. That scorecard is now locked in a safe-deposit box. Scanlon kept the racket, too. When he returned from the Riviera Tennis Club on Saturday, he started reading about Shvedova - how she is primarily a doubles specialist, how a series of injuries interrupted her 2011 season, how she won the first 23 points of her first set against Amy Frazier in Memphis before double-faulting at 5-0, 40-0. The date of that match? Feb. 22, 2006 - exactly 23 years after Scanlon's Golden Set. Scanlon said he was hoping to watch Shvedova's Golden Set - "I'd love to watch mine, but it wasn't televised," he said, laughing. Scanlon also said that he would like to meet Shvedova, who went on to win her match against Errani, 6-0, 6-4. "If she's looking for a new coach," Scanlon said, "I might know someone who has a similar background."