They couldn’t play for 69 more seconds on Thursday night?!?!
Yes, that is exactly how long it took Ben Shelton to win his darkness-delayed second-round match against Rinky Hijikata at Wimbledon on Friday afternoon. With the the contest suspended at 9:29 pm and Shelton up a break with a 5-3 in the third set, the 10th-ranked American came back out and held at love to swiftly polish off a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory.
Hijikata did not hit a single ball in the court of play during Friday’s resumption.
“[The chair umpire] said it was a five-minute warning until the Hawk-Eye was going (to shut) down,” Shelton said of why play was stopped on Thursday. “That was, including the changeover, so there wouldn’t be enough time to complete the game. I was telling him, ‘I only need 60 seconds.’ That was kind of what my goal was when I went out there today.”
Shelton ended up being correct. Goal achieved.
nice one, Ben
Wonder if Ben is getting close to slam # 1, or whether he still has a ways to go.
a ways…unfortunately