2nd February, 2013
The Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol on Saturday beat Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland in the longest Davis Cup rubber of all time, a tie that took 7 hours and two minutes.
The 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 24-22 win surpassed the previous record in the tournament when John McEnroe needed 6 hours and 22 minutes to beat Mats Wilander 9-7, 6-2, 15-17, 3-6, 8-6 in the tie between the United States and Sweden in 1982.
Chiudinelli double-faulted on match point after he and his partner had earlier saved 12 match points.
The win gave the defending champions Czechs a 2-1 lead in the World Group clash ahead of Sunday’s reverse singles with the winners to play either Kazakhstan or Austria in the quarter-finals in April.
Wawrinka, who will face Berdych in the first of Sunday’s singles, said he would be ready to try and pull his team level.
“Ice bath done! Now massage and food… Lets be ready for tomorrow!!!!????,” he tweeted.
The previous longest doubles match in Davis Cup was 6 hours 20 minutes which occured in 2002 when Lucas Arnold and David Nalbandian of Argentina beat Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 19-17.