Evans beats Khachanov in longest match in US Open history

Daniel Evans defeated Karen Khachanov in the longest match in US Open history on Tuesday in New York. The Briton rallied from 0-4 in the deciding set to eliminate the 23rd seed 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 in five hours and 35 minutes.

The previous record was held by Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang, whose 1992 semi-final lasted five hours and 26 minutes. Edberg won the match 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-4. 

"It was a long one. It was a long, long battle. I thought I played pretty well for the majority of the match. Obviously I was struggling physically, but so was he," Evans said. "It was sort of who could last the longest in the end."

For a moment, it seemed the clash would not make history. Khachanov surged to a 4-0 lead in the fifth set and earned four break points on Evans' serve, but was unable to convert.

"I just carried on fine really. Yeah, just tried to scrape little by little. 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," Evans said. "I think when you're a kid, you're just told to fight until the end. I mean, that's sort of rule one. I've done that pretty consistently for my career. It sort of paid off a bit today."

The Court 6 crowd, raucous throughout, urged Evans back into the match and roared with delight when he finished off the match with a final forehand, which Khachanov missed into the net. There was barely room to stand with so many fans surrounding the court when the historic encounter concluded.

All five sets lasted more than an hour. The third set was the longest at 72 minutes. 

Khachanov hit 79 winners to Evans' 53, but it was not enough. The victor converted eight of his 18 break points compared to eight of 23 for Khachanov. Evans won 201 total points to Khachanov's 191 and now leads the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series 5-0.

Entering the tournament Evans owned a 4-17 tour-level record this season and had not defeated a Top 100 opponent in the PIF ATP Rankings since March in Miami, where he beat then-World No. 53 Lorenzo Sonego.

"I'm immensely proud that I came through the match. I think that's the overriding feeling more than anything," Evans said. "I've had a lot of first rounds this year. It's nice to win a match. Obviously it was a long match. But, yeah, that's the overriding feeling is to still be able to win at this level. You always have doubts when you've been not winning. That's normal in any walk of life. If you're not doing well, you have doubts. It's no different in tennis."

Notably, the 34-year-old partnered Andy Murray in men's doubles at the Paris Olympics, the final event of Murray's career. The pair reached the third round before losing to Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.

Longest Matches In US Open History

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