By CNN
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At 2:15 a.m. ET, the last ball was struck, and China’s Zheng Qinwen and Donna Vekić of Croatia completed the latest finish for a women’s match in US Open history.
World No. 7 Zheng defeated Vekić, who is ranked No. 24, 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.
The previous latest time for a women’s US Open match to finish was at 2:13 a.m. ET, when Maria Sakkari of Greece outlasted Canada’s Bianca Andreescu 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-3 in the fourth round in 2021.
Zheng and Vekić’s match started just before 11:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. It lasted two hours and 50 minutes.
It was a rematch of the Paris Olympics gold medal match, where Zheng won gold and Vekić earned silver.
Despite the super late finish, this round of 16 match on Arthur Ashe Stadium was high quality. Combined, Zheng and Vekić had 67 winners to 57 unforced errors.
Recently retired tennis star Andy Murray weighed in during the third set on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling out the four grand slam events – the US Open, Australian Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros – as well as the ATP Tour, the WTA Tour and the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
“The tennis scheduling situation is a total mess,” Murray said in his post. “It looks so amateurish having matches going on at 2,3 4am. Sort it out.”
In a statement to CNN, US Open Tournament Director Stacey Allaster said of the late finish, “We attempt to balance competitive fairness and player wellbeing with the on-site fan experience and global television and media availability. At times, this does lead to matches finishing late into the night. In that case, we have the best services available to help players recover and prepare for their next matches, including working to ensure proper rest when it comes to scheduling.
“We evaluate all areas of the US Open, both during and following the event, and will continue to evaluate this area moving forward.”
Zheng will face No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals, a rematch of this year’s Australian Open final.
