Daniel Evans beats Karen Khachanov in longest match in US Open history | ATP Tour

US Open

Evans beats Khachanov in longest match in US Open history

The match lasts five hours and 35 minutes

August 27, 2024

Daniel Evans beat Karen Khachanov in the longest match in US Open history on Tuesday in New York. The Briton came from 0-4 down in the deciding set to eliminate the No. 23 seed 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 in five hours and 35 minutes.

The previous record was held by Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang, whose 1992 semi-final lasted 5 hours and 26 minutes. Edberg won the match 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-4.

“It was a long game. It was a very long battle. I thought I played pretty well for most of the game. Obviously I was struggling physically, but so was he,” Evans said. “It was kind of a question of who could hold on the longest at the end.”

For a moment, it seemed that this duel would not go down in history. Khachanov took a 4-0 lead in the fifth set and had four break points on Evans’ serve, but failed to convert them.

“I kept playing well. I tried to catch up little by little. Every point, I was really struggling with my legs. On serve, I was good on return, so that gave me a little bit of hope,” Evans said. “I think when you’re a kid, you’re just told to fight until the end. That’s kind of the number one rule. I’ve done that pretty consistently throughout my career. It paid off a little bit today.”

The cheering crowd on Court 6 cheered Evans back into the match and roared with joy when he sealed the match with a final forehand, which Khachanov missed into the net. There was barely room to stand with so many fans around the court as this historic encounter ended.

All five sets lasted more than an hour. The third set was the longest at 72 minutes.

Khachanov hit 79 winners to Evans’ 53, but it wasn’t enough. The winner converted eight of his 18 break points to Khachanov’s eight of 23. Evans won 201 points in total to Khachanov’s 191 and now leads the Lexus ATP Head2Head series between the two players 5-0.

Heading into the tournament, Evans was 4-17 on tour this season and had not beaten a PIF Top 100 opponent since March in Miami, where he beat then-world No. 53 Lorenzo Sonego.

“I’m extremely proud to have won this match. I think that’s the feeling that dominates more than anything,” Evans said. “I’ve had a lot of first rounds this year. It’s nice to win a match. Obviously, it was a long match. But yeah, that’s the feeling that dominates, is to still be able to win at this level. You always have doubts when you don’t win. That’s normal in any area of ​​life. If you don’t play well, you have doubts. It’s no different in tennis.”

The 34-year-old notably teamed up with Andy Murray in the men’s doubles at the Paris Olympics, the final event of Murray’s career. The pair reached the third round before losing to Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.

The longest matches in US Open history