Sunday, February 03, 2013
Czechs and Swiss play longest ever Davis Cup match
GENEVA (Reuters) - Czech Republic and Switzerland played the longest ever Davis Cup match when their doubles rubber lasted more than seven hours before the visitors won 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-7 24-22 on Saturday.
Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol beat Swiss pair Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli to give the holders a 2-1 lead in their world group, first round match.
Stanislas Wawrinka (L) and Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland talk during their Davis Cup world group round 1 tennis doubles match against Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic at Palexpo in Geneva February 2, 2013. With a duration of seven hours and one minute, the match was the longest in Davis Cup history. REUTERS/Valentin FlauraudThe encounter took seven hours two minutes, beating the previous record of six hours 22 minutes.
Saturday's marathon tussle eclipsed American John McEnroe's 9-7 6-2 15-17 3-6 8-6 win over Mats Wilander of Sweden in 1982 before tie-breaks were contested.
The doubles clash is also now the second longest match ever behind American John Isner's 11 hours five minutes first-round Wimbledon win over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in 2010.
World number six Berdych and Rosol needed 13 match points to close out the duel as Wawrinka and Chiudinelli, aided by the home support, clung on for dear life in the final set.
Wawrinka, ranked 17th, will meet Berdych in the singles at 1130 GMT on Sunday.
"Ice bath done! Now massage and food. Let's be ready for tomorrow," Wawrinka said on his Twitter feed.
(Writing by Tom Pilcher in London, editing by Ken Ferris)
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