The longest doubles match in the history of tennis took place on Saturday in Geneva, Switzerland. It featured both Tomas Berdych and Stanislas Wawrinka, who are back in Davis Cup action one day later.
Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol won the longest doubles match ever on Saturday, outlasting Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7(3), 24-22. After a hard-to-believe seven hours and two minutes, Berdych and Rosol put the Czech Republic ahead of host Switzerland 2-1 in their first-round Davis Cup tie.
end of the doubles match:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMTm_0GSHg8]
“We made it, but not in a good time,” Rosol noted. “It was the longest match I’ve ever played. Hopefully I will not play tomorrow, but I will be ready if so. ”
“I have never played tennis that long,” Berdych assured. “I like it because I now have a new experience but we still need one more point, so let’s go again Sunday.”
Sunday will begin with another meeting between Berdych and Wawrinka, this time in singles. Heading into their 10th career encounter, Wawrinka leads the head-to-head series 5-4. Berdych, however, has won four of their eight hard-court encounters and he is 3-0 against the Swiss indoors. They most recently faced each other at the Indian Wells Masters in 2011, when Wawrinka prevailed 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Both men are in stellar singles form, although a slight edge in that department may go to Wawrinka. The world No. 17 advanced three rounds at the Australian Open before losing to Novak Djokovic 12-10 in the fifth set in the match of the tournament. Wawrinka remained on track in this tie’s opening rubber, taking care of Rosol 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Berdych was upset by Roberto Bautista-Agut in the Chennai quarterfinals, but he reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne–ultimately losing to Djokovic in four. The world No. 6 got back on track with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-1 victory over Henri Laaksonen in the second singles rubber on Monday.
Wawrinka and Berdych may not be 100 percent for this, but they should have more than enough left in the tank to make this another entertaining affair. Why not another five-setter, in fact? Don’t be surprised if his one goes the distance, with a slight edge going to Wawrinka partly due to home-court advantage.
Pick: Wawrinka in 5
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