A marathon contest between Coco Gauff and Marta Kostyuk has threatened to push the later matches on Rod Laver Arena deep into the night.
Gauff overcame Kostyuk 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (3-7), 6-2 to seal a spot in the semi finals of the women’s singles in a contest that lasted three hours and eight minutes.
Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
It was not exactly the most glamorous of matches, given both players combined for a staggering 107 unforced errors.
Not only that, it pushed the entire day’s play on Rod Laver Arena further back as the decision to schedule Gauff against Kostyuk at 1pm came under fire.
Novak Djokovic’s quarterfinal against Taylor Fritz was not to begin before 2:30pm but due to Gauff’s marathon effort over Kostyuk, their match did not start until 4:43pm.
Djokovic’s matches at this year’s Australian Open have become more efficient with every passing contest, going from a four-hour marathon in the first round to a 106-minute victory over Adrian Mannarino in the fourth round.
As for Fritz, he is no stranger to lengthy games in Melbourne this year and is coming off a three-hour thriller to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas to make the quarterfinals.
DAY 10 LIVE BLOG: Superstar’s embarrassing display as bonkers call to ‘haunt’ Aus Open
MORE COVERAGE
‘Sporting integrity’ fears behind Djoker’s 15-year advantage … and why snub could be his downfall
‘We just get along better’: Novak takes another shot at Federer
‘I’ll put you on the spot’: The question that made Alcaraz squirm in awkward interview
And if the last time these two met at the Australian Open is any indication of what’s to come, the two remaining matches on Rod Laver Arena could be some way away.
Djokovic beat Fritz 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 in the fourth round of the 2021 Australian Open but needed almost three-and-a-half hours to do so.
But Fritz, who was seeded No. 27 then, has improved significantly and will present a much tougher test for Djokovic this time.
A lengthy encounter between Djokovic and Fritz could result in a significant delay for the women’s quarterfinal between No. 9 seed Barbora Krejcikova and defending champ Aryna Sabalenka, which is set to begin at 7pm.
Should that happen, spare a thought for Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev, who could end up playing into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Rublev vanquished Alex de Minaur in a five-set epic to qualify for the last eight while Sinner cruised past Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.
DAY 10 NIGHT SESSION
Rod Laver Arena
From 7pm: No.9 Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) vs No.2 Aryna Sabalenka (BLR)
Followed by: No.4 Jannik Sinner (ITA) vs No.5 Andrey Rublev (RUS)
Follow all the action from Day 10’s night session at the Australian Open in our LIVE BLOG below!
Can’t see the blog? Click here
Discussion about this post