‘Crazy’ fans witness latest finish to a US Open match

EquaLling the record for the latest finish at the US Open, Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany eliminated John Isner of the United States 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at 2:26am local time yesterday to reach the fourth round.

The official completion time was the same as a second-round match in 1993, when Mats 
Wilander beat Mikael Pernfors. The latest finishing match at any Grand Slam was the 4:34am end to Lleyton Hewitt’s third-round encounter against Marcos Baghdatis at the 2008 Australian Open.

“Of course, it’s very late, so 
everybody here is really a crazy tennis fan,” the 19th-seeded Kohlschreiber told the few fans who remained during an on-court interview.

He won his sixth consecutive five-setter, while No 9 Isner, the highest-seeded American man, lost his fourth in a row – and did it in angry fashion, getting docked a point for smashing a racket. It caps a disappointing Grand Slam season for Isner, who didn’t make it past the third round at any of the four major tournaments.

An earlier three-set victory by Maria Sharapova in Arthur Ashe Stadium was interrupted by a rain delay, and Isner and Kohlschreiber didn’t start until after 
11pm on Sunday. They played for three hours, 20 minutes.

That length pales in comparison to Isner’s record 11-hour, five-minute victory at Wimbledon in 2010, and his five-hour, 41-minute loss at the French Open this year.

Against Kohlschreiber, Isner hit 22 aces, but he lost all three break points he faced. He only was able to break the German twice in 11 chances.

In the first game of the fifth set, he got upset over a miscommunication when chair umpire Carlos Bernardes charged him for an instant-replay challenge that Isner said he didn’t really want. After pushing a forehand long on the next point, Isner whacked a ball in anger into the stands, drawing a warning for unsporstsmanlike conduct.

Later in that game, a foot-fault call by a line judge that Isner disagreed with erased an ace and led to a double-fault. And, after missing a forehand, Isner got broken to trail 1-0.

Two games later, now down 2-1, Isner re-aired his anger at that call, saying to Bernardes: “Who is this guy? How is he going to call a foot-fault? Worst call ever.” With that, Isner sat down in his changeover chair and pounded his racket to the court twice, busting up the frame then chucking it away. Because of the earlier warning, Bernardes charged Isner with a point penalty.

Next for Kohlschreiber is a match today against No 8 Janko Tipsarevic, whose victory on Sunday ended more than eight hours earlier.