Dan Evans has won the longest match at the US Open since tiebreakers were introduced in 1970.
The Englishman beat No.23 seed Karen Khachanov 6-7(6), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 on Wednesday morning in five hours and 35 minutes.
Evans trailed 4-0 in the fifth set before running off the final six games.
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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 Khachanov couldn’t get back over the net with his backhand.
The previous record was five hours and 26 minutes, when Stefan Edberg beat Michael Chang in a five-setter in the 1992 semi finals.
Dan Evans celebrates beating Karen Khachanov in the longest ever US Open match. Getty
“I don’t even know how long the match was,” an exhausted Evans told Sky Sport afterwards.
“I’ve got a bad headache now and I’ve got to get rid of that.
“It was a hell of a match… I just want to go to bed.”
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Evans improved to 5-0 against Khachanov, a semi finalist at the 2022 US 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.