China Open: Sorribes Tormo wins 4-hour, 15-min marathon in fourth longest match in Open Era
The Spaniard edged out Xinyu Gao 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5 in the first round in Beijing on Thursday
Last week, Laura Siegemund and Xiyu Wang battled for 4 hours and 11 minutes before the German won the longest match on the WTA Tour since 2011. Just one week later, Spanish qualifier Sara Sorribes Tormo edged out Chinese wildcard Xinyu Gao 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5 in 4 hours, 15 minutes at the China Open to break that record.
The match was also the fourth longest on the WTA Tour in the Open Era. As per the WTA Tour, the only matches longer are:
- Vicki Nelson-Dunbar d. Jean Hepner 6-4, 7-6(11), 1984 Richmond R1 (6 hrs, 31 mins)
- Francesca Schiavone d. Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 1-6, 16-14, 2011 Australian Open R4 (4 hours, 44 mins)
- Barbora Strycova d. Regina Kulikova 7-6(5), 6-7(10), 6-3, 2010 Australian Open R1 (4 hours, 19 mins)
The win moves Sorribes Tormo into the second round of the China Open where she will face No 18 seed Madison Keys next.
Sorribes Tormo, ranked No 104,
Beijing WTA 1000, other first-round matches (National Tennis Center, hard, USD 8,955,610):
- Irina-Camelia Begu beat YeXin Ma (WC): 1-6, 6-4, 6-1
- Viktorija Golubic beat Xiyu Wang: 7-6 (5), 0-6, 6-3
- Nadia Podoroska beat Yufei Ren (WC): 6-4, 6-2
- Elisabetta Cocciaretto beat Arina Rodionova (Q): 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
- Clara Tauson beat Harriet Dart: 5-7, 6-4, 6-1
- Kamilla Rakhimova (LL) beat Kimberly Birrell (Q): 6-2, 6-4
- Jana Fett (LL) beat Meiling Wang (WC): 6-3, 6-4
- Camila Osorio beat Ajla Tomljanovic: 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
- Moyuka Uchijima beat Han Shi (WC): 6-3, 6-4
- Cristina Bucsa beat Xinxin Yao (WC): 6-3, 6-2
- Rebecca Sramkova (Q) beat Anhelina Kalinina: 6-4, 6-0
- Hailey Baptiste (Q) beat Varvara Gracheva: 6-0, 6-3
- Alycia Parks (Q) beat Qiang Wang: 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
- Peyton Stearns beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro: 6-2, 6-4
- Elina Avanesyan beat Emina Bektas (LL): 6-2, 7-5
- Diane Parry beat En-Shuo Liang (Q): 4-6, 6-0, 6-0
- Shuai Zhang (WC) beat McCartney Kessler: 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1)
- Katie Volynets beat Dalma Galfi (Q): 7-5, 6-1
- Clara Burel beat Tamara Korpatsch (LL): 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
- Naomi Osaka beat Lucia Bronzetti: 6-3, 6-2
- Taylor Townsend beat Martina Trevisan: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
- Yuliia Starodubtseva (Q) beat Laura Siegemund: 6-4, 7-6 (3)
- Xinyu Wang beat Mai Hontama (LL): 6-1, 6-3
- Viktoriya Tomova beat Lesia Tsurenko: 6-3, 6-3
- Sofia Kenin beat Ana Bogdan: 7-5, 6-2
- Greet Minnen beat Erika Andreeva: 7-5, 6-2
- Yafan Wang vs. Ashlyn Krueger
- Anna Blinkova vs. Karolina Muchova
- Zarina Diyas vs. Mananchaya Sawangkaew
- Anna Bondar vs. Jaqueline Cristian
- Elena-Gabriela Ruse vs. Sijia Wei