British tennis player Dan Evans has broken the record for the longest match ever played at the US Open.
The 34-year-old, who partnered Andy Murray during the Scot’s swansong at the Paris Olympics, faced Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the first round at Flushing Meadows in New York.
The pair faced a gruelling encounter in blistering conditions as the match lasted a mammoth five hours and 35 minutes.
This broke a 32-year record at the US Open, set when Stefan Edberg beat Michael Chang in five hours and 26 minutes in 1992.
The marathon match went on for so long that Evans lost track of what set they were in during the fourth set and had to check.
“I don’t really want to do that again, that’s for sure,” Evans said after the match.
In the time the match took place, you could have driven from Sky News in west London to Scotland.
After failing to take early opportunities, Evans later looked dead and buried when he trailed 4-0 in the fifth-set decider.
But following suit from his impressive Olympic comeback, Evans won six games in a row in the final set to claim a 6-7 (6), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 victory.
After Evans’s win, Murray reposted a clip on X of the winning match point and wrote: “Goosebumps.”
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Speaking after the game, Evans said: “I think when you’re a kid, you’re just told to fight until the end.
“That’s sort of rule one. I’ve done that pretty consistently for my career.
“It sort of paid off a bit today.
“I’m immensely proud that I came through the match. I think that’s the overriding feeling more than anything.”
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Evans added: “I’ve had a lot of first rounds this year. It’s nice to win a match.”
While there were wins for Jack Draper and Katie Boulter, a tearful Emma Raducanu admitted she would have to go “back to the drawing board” after losing in the first round to Sofia Kenin.
