Marathon Match: Longest US Open match since at least 1970 goes a grueling 5 hours, 35 minutes

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Jakub Mensik, of the Czech Republic, returns a shot to Felix Auger-Aliassime, of Canada, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

NEW YORK ā€“ A few hours into a match that eventually set a U.S. Open record for length, Dan Evans glanced over at the scoreboard.

Not to see how he was doing, but to clarify exactly how long he had been playing.

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ā€œIn the fourth set, I had to check the set to see what set we were in,ā€ Evans said. ā€œI wasnā€™t entirely sure what set we were in.ā€

More than an hour later, Evans won the longest match at the U.S. Open since tiebreakers were introduced in 1970, beating Karen Khachanov 6-7 (6), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 on Tuesday in 5 hours, 35 minutes.

Evans trailed 4-0 in the fifth set before running off the final six games. The final point, fittingly, was a marathon 22-shot rally, with Evans on the defensive for much of the point before hitting a hard shot to the corner that the No. 23-seeded Khachanov couldn't get back over the net with his backhand.

The previous record was 5 hours, 26 minutes, when Stefan Edberg beat Michael Chang in a five-setter in the 1992 semifinals.

ā€œI was hurting all over, really,ā€ said the 34-year-old Evans, who was grabbing at his lower legs and resting his hands on his knees in the final set.

ā€œI donā€™t think Iā€™ve played five hours, that long, in a day, ever ā€” in two sessions, never mind in one. I was actually thinking that on the court. Iā€™ve never practiced two hours, two hours. Itā€™s normally an hour and a half.ā€

Evans improved to 5-0 against Khachanov, a semifinalist at the 2022 U.S. Open, by emerging in a match in which the sets lasted 68, 67, 72, 67 and 61 minutes.

The British player who played doubles with Andy Murray at the Olympics in the three-time Grand Slam champion's final tournament finished with a 201-191 edge in total points. He advanced to play Mariano Navone of Argentina in the second round.

Evans has battled injuries in a difficult 2024. He arrived at Flushing Meadows just 4-17 this season, and said the fight he showed Tuesday should help restore some confidence that he had lost.

He just wished it would have come more quickly.

ā€œYeah, I donā€™t really want to do that again,ā€ he said, ā€œthatā€™s for sure.ā€

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis


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