The outer courts in the early rounds of Grand Slams never disappoint, and on Tuesday at the U.S. Open they produced history.
On Court 6, far below the upper echelons of Arthur Ashe stadium (from which more than few patrons scrambled to get a vantage point), Dan Evans and Karen Khachanov played the longest match of all time at this tournament. What began as a relatively non-descript first-round match between two players in significant slumps turned into an instant classic in which Evans triumphed 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 after five hours and 35 minutes.
The previous longest match at Flushing Meadows was the 1992 semifinal between Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang, with Edberg prevailing 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-4 in five hours and 26 minutes.
Evans vs. Khachanov also resulted in what was surely one of the most amazing fifth-set comebacks in event history. The British veteran trailed 4-0 in the fifth set and four times was a point away from falling behind 5-0. He found himself seemingly down and out while serving at 0-4, 15-40 only to somehow save a total of four break points and held for 1-4.
That escape gave Evans a second wind–or perhaps by that stage of the marathon it was a ninth and 10th wind–and reduced Khachanov to thinking about the fatigue in his legs for which he had taken a medical timeout following the first game of the fifth set. With the Russian suddenly reeling, Evans broke serve twice in a row to pull even at 4-4. In the ninth game the 34-year old fought off another break point and held for 5-4.
From there it was all over for Khachanov, although the world No. 22 briefly came up with two of his best points in the fifth set to save match points at 0-40 and 15-40. At long last, on his third chance Evans took control of a rally right away and eventually forced Khachanov into a backhand error.
“It was sort of who could last the longest in the end,” Evans commented. “I just carried on fighting, really. I just tried to scrape little by little. When you’re a kid you’re told to fight until the end. That’s rule number one. That’s what I’ve done my entire career. It sort of paid off today…. I just kept looking at the clock and tried to hang in, hang in. Yeah, (it was) nuts.”
The world No. 184 was asked what will be in his mind when he thinks about the match many years down the road.
“I’ll be proud,” he assured. “I’ll obviously be proud. Yeah, it was just a crazy, crazy match. I guess it’s one I’ll remember obviously forever.”
And he should, because…well…it was a match that lasted forever.
can confirm that I was there
There’s a bit of hear between UK and Russia right now. No surprise Dan Evans stepped up to the plate!
heat
Obviously Dan will go out 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 next round.
I was there as well, with Ricky, and it was unbelievable drama, and esp in that last set . Nothing like the outer courts at The Open!