Francesca Schiavone needed four hours and 44 minutes to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova on Day 7 of the 2011 Australian Open. And it won’t get any easier for her in the quarterfinals.
Australian Open 2011, Day 7: Francesca Schiavone Wins Longest Women’s Match In Grand Slam History
Schiavone, Italy’s best current women’s singles player, outlasted Kuznetsova 6-4, 1-6, 16-14 in Hisense Arena to earn a quarterfinals berth. Despite her age (Schiavone is 30, which is old for women’s tennis), Schiavone was the harder-working player, running everywhere on defense deep into that marathon third set.
The match set a new record for length in a Grand Slam women’s singles match. The previous record was held by Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova’s triumph over Regina Kulikova at the Australian Open in 2010.
Schiavone will move on to face top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals. Wozniacki presents a starkly different set of challenges than Kuznetsova and a nearly five-hour match do, but if Schiavone can be as hardy as she was against the Russian, the great Dane may be ticketed for an early exit from Australian Open 2011.
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