French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone of Italy, out dueled her Russian friend, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in the longest women’s singles match in Grand Slam history, winning 6-4, 1-6, 16-14.
The 30-game 3rd set alone took exactly three hours. The first two sets lasted 51 and 53 minutes for a total match time of 4 hours, 44 minutes.
After destroying last year’s finalist, Justine Henin, in straight sets in the third round, Kuznetsova should have been filled with confidence coming in against veteran Schiavone, who has never made it past the fourth round in Melbourne. But it was Schiavone who took Kuznetsova by surprise in the opening set.
The reigning French Open champ made her statement early, breaking Kuznetsova in the second game of the match. In the almost five hours of play to come, Schiavone would break her opponent seven more times out of another 22 opportunities. And while Kuznetsova would break Schiavone more times – nine out of 27 chances – it wouldn’t be enough.
After defending against six match points, and after three match points of her own, Schiavone ended the record-breaking match with a forehand volley winner. The two combatants embraced at the net as the Hisense Arena crowd stood as one to applaud both players, whose historic battle surpassed the previous longest Grand Slam match by 25 minutes.
Last year, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova battled Regina Kulikova in 4 hours, 19 minutes, in a women’s match also in Melbourne.
Schiavone will now face the top seed, and World No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki in the Quarterfinals.
