In a quarterfinal match that finished at 2:50 a.m., Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner set a record for the latest-ever US Open match. The epic, five-set quarterfinal—which Alcaraz won, 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-3—started on Wednesday night and finished in the early hours of Thursday morning in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The match lasted five hours, 15 minutes—the second-longest US Open match ever—and surpassed the previous record for latest finish of 2:26 a.m., set three times, most recently in 2014.
"The energy I received on this court at 3 a.m., it was unbelievable," the No. 3-seeded Alcaraz said in his post-match press conference. "Probably in other tournaments, other places, everybody [would go] to their house to rest. But they [stayed] in the court, supporting me. It was unbelievable.
"I feel great to be in my first semifinal in a Grand Slam. I feel better reaching the semifinals here at the US Open. This tournament is amazing. The crowd is amazing, I would say the best in the world."
The record for longest match is five hours, 26 minutes, set by Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang in 1992. (Edberg won that five-set semifinal before defeating Pete Sampras in a four-set final.)
Alcaraz, through to his first major semifinal, will play American Frances Tiafoe on Friday. Earlier on Wednesday, Tiafoe defeated Andrey Rublev, 7-6(3), 7-6(0), 6-4, to become the first Black man to reach the US Open semifinals since Arthur Ashe in 1972.
