The times on the clock shifted from p.m. to a.m., the day from Thursday to Friday, and Andy Murray never wavered, never relented, no matter that he faced a two-set hole at the Australian Open, no matter that he is 35 and possesses an artificial hip, no matter that this was the longest and latest-finishing match of his long, illustrious career.
The three-time major champion and 26-year-old Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis stared down exhaustion and each other for 5 hours, 45 minutes of compelling theatre in a second-round contest at Melbourne Park until Murray emerged with a 4-6, 6-7 , 7-6 , 6-3, 7-5 victory that ended a little after 4 a.m.
How tight was this? Murray won 196 points, Kokkinakis 192. And how high was the quality of play? They combined for 171 winners to only 107 unforced errors in the chill of a temperature that dipped below 60 degrees Fahrenheit , delighting the hundreds of enthusiastic and loud spectators who remained in the blue seats.
Somehow, it was not the latest finish in Australian Open history. A 2008 match at the tournament between Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis concluded at 4:34 a.m., the record for any Slam. First Kokkinakis lost the argument, then he lost his focus, getting broken there and destroying his racket by spiking it on the court.
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