Top 3 longest women’s US Open matches
With the 2021 US Open rolling out more mammoth battles than ever, Tennishead takes a look at the longest ever matches in New York.
The women’s draw has thrown up some brilliant duels in New York this year. Here, Tennishead looks at the top three longest women’s singles matches at the US Slam in the Open Era.
3. Shelby Rogers defeats Daria Gavrilova – 3 hours, 35 minutes
American talent Rogers took on the Australian 25th seed Gavrilova, who came into the 2017 US Open having just claimed her maiden WTA tour title at the Connecticut Open in New Haven.
With Rogers immediately claiming a break in the first game, Gavrilova fought to break back three times in the opening set to force a tiebreak.
A super tight affair, Rogers claimed just a single mini-break to secure the set 8-6 in the breaker.
The two women traded breaks early in the second set too, before Gavrilova set herself up to serve to tie the match at 4-4. She did so, bringing up a third set.
The final set proved the most gruelling, as another pair of exchanged breaks brought a tiebreak to decide the match.
Completely different from the first breaker, the two women traded seven mini-breaks, with Rogers finally claiming the set 7-6 (7-5) after an hour and a half in the set and a final score of 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5).
2. Elise Mertens defeats Rebecca Peterson – 3 hours, 40 minutes
On 30th August 2021, 15th seeded Belgian Mertens and Sweden’s Peterson met in the first round of the tournament.
A flurry of breaks opened the match, as neither competitor was able to hold serve before 2-2, when Peterson did so, before breaking Mertens for a third time.
This proved enough to secure the opening set, as the Swede claimed it in 44 minutes. From there the match was highly volatile.
To begin the second set, Mertens held before four more breaks were exchanged consecutively for 3-3. Mertens was then broken again, eventually bringing the score to 3-5 on her serve.
The Belgian held off three match points for Peterson to set the score at 4-5, before three more breaks meant a tiebreak was needed.
Up a mini-break at 5-4 on her serve, Peterson lost both points on her serve to hand Mertens the advantage, which she took to level the match.
Just a pair of breaks was exchanged in the deciding set as another tiebreak was required to settle the battle, with Peterson having squandered a fourth match point on the Mertens serve.
The Belgian held out, claiming the match needing just a single match point to end the stifling contest, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5).
1. Rebeka Masarova defeats Ana Bogdan – 3 hours, 40 minutes
Astoundingly, on the same day, and starting at almost the same time, another first round women’s match began between Spanish qualifier Masarova and the Romanian Bogdan.
This match was tight all the way through, as each set was decided by a tiebreak. Bogdan struck first in a breaker where five set points were missed between the players before the Romanian claimed it 11-9.
After four breaks in the second set, Masarova took a tight grip on the breaker, not allowing Bogdan to win a single point on-serve as she won it 7-2.
In the decider, Masarova survived a 17-point opening service game before breaking Bogdan immediately after.
But Masarova surrendered the lead soon after, resulting in the final tiebreak. At 4-5, Bogdan lost her serve to present Masarova with two match points, but the Spaniard could not convert.
A third match point came and went for Masarova before Bogdan had two of her own, then another for Masarova at 10-9, which she finally converted to secure the match 6-7 (9-11), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (11-9).
Honorable Mention – Maria Sakkari defeat Bianca Andreescu – 3 hours, 30 minutes
Again at the 2021 US Open, Sakkari faced Canadian star and 2019 champion Andreescu in the fourth round.
The match was a blockbuster affair, as the opening set ground on to tiebreak after nearly an hour of play. Andreescu turned on the power to take it 7-2.
Four breaks early in the second set proved a tumultuous run of games before another breaker was called for. This time Greece’s Sakkari took it 8-6.
With Andreescu wilting towards the end of the match, Sakkari held firm to claim a double break and secure a second slam quarter-final of her career.
While not the longest women’s match ever in New York, it was the latest to finish, coming to a close at 2:13am local time.
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