Australian Open: 4 longest women's singles matches
Australian Open was the last of the four Grand Slams to conduct the Women's Singles competition. The competition was established in 1922, when the playing surface was grass. The tournament was then called 'The Australasian Tennis Championships'.
Ever since 1932, the winner of the Australian Open Women's Singles competition gets to keep a replica of the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy - named to honor the legacy of the late Australian great of the same name, who won the title for a then record five times.
Margaret Court Smith has won the trophy a record 11 times while Serena Williams has lifted the trophy 7 times till date. This Grand Slam is without a doubt Serena's favorite as the American has won here on 4 occasions without dropping a set and won 7 of the 8 finals that she has played.
Exponents of those who support equal pay for women and men professional tennis athletes have been on the rise over the years. With women's matches too stretching beyond 4 hours at times, their viewpoints are well justified.
Playing such long matches at the Australian Open is even more difficult as the players are subject to extreme temperatures which can frequently cross 40 degree Celsius. Sometimes, even a 10-minute break between the 2nd and 3rd set may not be sufficient and this is evident with the likes of great champions like Viktoria Azarenka experiencing the effects of the heat.
Our focus today is on four of the longest women's singles matches at the Australian Open (two of which have crossed the 4 hour mark) :
#4 Svetlana Kuznetsova vs Jelena Jankovic, 3rd Round, 2017
Former World Number 1 Jelena Jankovic was up against the 8th seed and 2-time Grand Slam champion, Svetlana Kuznestova in the 3rd round of the 2017 Australian Open. Having beaten the big-serving German Julia Goerges in the 2rd round in straight sets, Jankovic was confident of pulling off the upset in her encounter with the Russian.
Kuznetsova was a set up and a double break but despite leading by 4-1, she was frustrated by Jankovic, as the Serb showed glimpses of her old self and reeled off won 4 games in a row to take the second set 7-5.
Momentum had turned in Jankovic's favor and the Serb was up 3-0 in the third set with a quick break, but the 31-year-old Russian wasn't done yet. Kuznetsova then broke Jankovic's serve in 2 successive games to claw herself back into the match.
Then, at 5-4, Kuznetsova broke for the third time and was all set to serve for the match, but Jankovic had other ideas as she hit a remarkable forehand winner to break the Russian's serve and leveled the match at 5-5. Then a pivotal break at 7-7 gave Kuznetsova the chance to serve it out and she did exactly that to win the match 6-4, 5-7, 9-7 in 3 hours and 36 minutes.