NEW YORK, NY, USA - Shelby Rogers outlasted No.25 seed Daria Gavrilova in three grueling sets on Thursday, setting the record for the longest recorded women’s singles match in US Open history.
Their marathon encounter clocked in at three hours and 33 minutes, which saw Rogers close out the Australian in a 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-6(5) upset.
The previous record was 3 hours and 23 minutes, set when Johanna Konta defeated Garbine Muguruza in the 2015 second round, 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-2.
“Right before I went to the locker room, my coach told me,” Rogers said in her post match press conference. “I was like, 'Oh, that's pretty cool, casually setting records today.'
“We'd been battling out there. You try to stay in the moment. I didn't feel like it was the longest match ever, but it's starting to set in a little bit now. Going to be sore!”
In the incredible 90-minute final set, Gavrilova, the newest member of the Top 20, saved four match points on her serve at 5-4, en route to the final set tiebreak. Last week’s Connecticut Open champion could not save a fifth, though, as Rogers triumphed in a tiebreak that saw seven of the 12 points go against serve.
For Gavrilova, who was just two points shy of victory but came up short, the record-setting news is bittersweet.
“I don’t know what my emotions are right now,” Gavrilova said in her post-match press conference. “I mean, I played over three and a half hours for nothing.
“I didn’t feel as great as I probably could have today, but I hung in there so that’s pretty good. In the end, if I won, I could be proud of my efforts.”
Rogers, a quarterfinalist at the 2016 French Open, advances to the third round of the US Open for the second straight year, and will play No.4 seed Elina Svitolina.
