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‘I just want to go to bed’, says Briton after he rallies from 0-4 in the final set to win a record-breaking first round match
Dan Evans ended a ten-match tour losing streak in the most heroic style, defeating 23rd seed Karen Khachanov in the longest match ever played in the 142-year history of the US Open.
At five hours and 35 minutes, Evans’s 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 victory eclipsed the 1992 meeting between Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang.
By the deciding set of this agonisingly punishing contest, which was played out in the heat of the fierce north American sun, both men were suffering from cramp.
At first it was Evans, the smaller of the two, who seemed more debilitated. Because of his fleet-footed playing style, he ended up covering significantly more ground: slightly over 7.3km (4.5 miles) to Khachanov’s 6.8km.
For the first half of the decider it was Khachanov who dominated, moving out to a 4-0 lead in a fusillade of beefy winners. A burly figure, the Russian was still able to power the ball through the court while Evans could do little more than chip it back into play.
Absolute warriors 🙇🙇♀️Dan Evans & Karen Khachanov delivered an unforgettable match 👏@usopen #USOpenpic.twitter.com/61PQuazpOd
And yet, to Evans’s eternal credit, he refused to accept an apparently inevitable defeat. He somehow found a couple of big serves to arrest Khachanov’s momentum, even though he no longer had the leg strength to push up to the ball.
And then the other half of the game-style equation began to come into play. Evans might have done more running, but he also conserves energy with his little backhand chip – one of the most apparently innocuous yet surprisingly effective shots on the tour. Khachanov’s more agricultural approach is harder to maintain when muscles are depleted, and the match began to run away from him.
Despite the physical issues on show, and the longer reaction times to reach the ball, some of the shotmaking and point construction remained spectacular. Manoeuvering the ball cleverly, Evans reeled off six straight games to turn a sob story into a triumph he will always remember.
In a quirky footnote, he also extended his perfect record against Khachanov to five wins from five encounters.
“I just tried to keep fighting,” Evans told Sky Sports in his on-court interview. “At 4-0 I thought I was out. I felt a little sorry for myself. But I didn’t want to go out from another slam without much fight and with a whimper. I just tried to grab one game at a time.
“It was a hell of a match. I just want to go to bed.”
“I just want to go to bed” 🤣Dan Evans’ reaction to defeating Karen Khachanov in the longest US Open match in history at 5 hours and 35 minutes 🤯 pic.twitter.com/oZyP4DwZx6
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