The sports day: Siegemund wins longest women’s match in 13 years

The Sports Day
Siegemund won longest women’s match in 13 years

18.09.2024, 14:27

Laura Siegemund fought her way into the quarterfinals of the tournament in Thailand in the longest tennis match on the women’s professional tour in 13 years. After 4:09 hours, the 36-year-old won the round of 16 against fifth-seeded Chinese Wang Xiyu with 7:6 (7:3), 4:6, 7:6 (7:1).

“I’m happy that I won. I think it was a very good match. Maybe there were a few phases where there were several mistakes, but overall we fought really hard,” said Siegemund in an interview on the hard court. In the end, it was “just a fight” that was about physical strength and mentality.

According to the professional association WTA, it was the first time since 2011 that two tennis players on the tour were on the court for more than four hours. At that time, the Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova and the Italian Francesca Schiavone duelled for 4 hours and 44 minutes at the Australian Open, making it the longest women’s match at a Grand Slam tournament in the professional era.