ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM — New York is the city that never sleeps. That’s probably a good thing, as it means there is someone around to watch the tennis.
At 3.33am, Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton finally reached a conclusion to their topsy-turvy US Open quarter-final, the American triumphing in a decisive tie-break, a fitting end to a match that lasted all of four hours and 28 minutes.
It broke the record for the latest ever finish in the history of this tournament, a record Alcaraz himself set when his five-setter with Jannik Sinner at this same stage stopped the clock at 2.50am four years ago.
It was still 3-2 in the fifth set when Shelton and Alcaraz went past that mark, having started after 11pm.
As Martina Navratilova put it on social media: “Something has got to give… this is not okay and it is not normal… no other sport might start at 11am or 11pm. In the same event…”
