Daily Times

Daniel Evans rallied from 0-4 down in the final set to beat Karen Khachanov in the longest match in US Open history on Tuesday, a five-hour, 35-minute epic on court six.

In front of a lively crowd, Britain’s Evans beat the 23rd seed from Russia 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-4.

“It was a long, long battle,” Evans said. “I thought I played pretty well for the majority of the match. Obviously I was struggling physically, but so was he.

“It was sort of who could last the longest in the end.”

The previous longest US Open match was Stefan Edberg’s victory over Michael Chang in the 1992 semi-finals, which lasted five hours and 26 minutes with Edberg winning 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 6-4.

The contest didn’t look headed for a record when Khachanov grabbed a 4-0 lead in the final set. He then had four break points on Evans’s serve but couldn’t convert.

He rallied, urged on by the crowd packed into the stands and along the concrete walkways along the court in the shadow of the massive Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“(I) just tried to scrape little by little,” Evans said. “Each point I was obviously really struggling with my legs. On serve I was fine on return, so that gave me a bit of hope.