Dan Evans ‘immensely proud’ after winning longest US Open match in history
Dan Evans has come through the longest match in US Open history lasting over five-and-a-half hours, with the Brit admitting that he ‘does not want to do that again’.
Evans beat 23rd seed Karen Khachanov, 6(6)-7 7-6(2) 7-6(4) 4-6 6-4, with the match lasting five hours and 35 minutes in New York.
The end scoreline only tells half of the story, with Evans coming from 0-4 15-40 down in the deciding set before winning six consecutive games.
As a result of their incredible lengthy encounter, Evans and Khachanov have surpassed the previous record held by Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang that was set back in the 1992 US Open semi-finals.
After the match, Evans spoke about the pride of coming through a match like that, “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. I’ve had a lot of first rounds this year. It’s nice to win a match. Of course, it’s a special match to win in what fashion, or however you want to say. But I’m proud that I’m still able to compete.”
The 34-year-old added, “It’s the longest I’ve ever been on a court. In the fourth set, I had to check the set to see what set we was in. I wasn’t entirely sure what set we were in. But I don’t really want to do that again. That’s for sure.”
Dan Evans won this match 😂 pic.twitter.com/lmo9e9rqlW
— LTA (@the_LTA) August 27, 2024
It has been a tough season for Evans, who has fallen to World No.184 in the ATP rankings and has only won four matches on the main tour this year.
Unsurprisingly after the match, Evans revealed that he would not be practicing in his day off ahead of the second round, “Obviously, I won’t practice. Just recover and try and recover as best as possible. I was hurting all over really.
“I don’t think I’ve played five hours, that long, in a day ever in two sessions, never mind in one day. I was actually thinking that on the court. I’ve never practiced [for] two hours. It’s normally an hour and a half.”
Someone who knows a little bit about lengthy matches and fighting until the end is Evans’ Olympic doubles partner Andy Murray, who revealed that he had goosebumps when posting on social media.
Goosebumps https://t.co/RCxc4ffaVX
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) August 28, 2024
Evans will now look to recover ahead of his second round match against Argentine Mariano Navone that takes place tomorrow.
Inside the baseline…
There is very little you can say about that match other than unbelievable! Dan Evans has had a really difficult year and to fight back like that against a very good player is truly remarkable, and it really felt like he took over the spirit from the now-retired Andy Murray. Hopefully Evans can recover as best as possible, as the Brit is defending third round points from last year and he needs to pick up as many as possible in the coming months.
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