The 7 longest matches on the WTA Tour in 2024: Two four-hour matches in the space of a week
Just a week after Laura Siegemund and Wang Xiyu completed the longest match of the 2024 WTA Tour season, Sara Sorribes Tormo and Gao Xinyu have bumped them down into second place.
Siegemund and Wang produced the first four-hour match of the year at the Thailand Open 2, but Sorribes Tormo and Gao have outdone them at the China Open.
The 7 longest matches on the WTA Tour in 2024:
7. Three hours and 29 minutes
Sara Sorribes Tormo has 19 matches that have lasted longer than three hours with three of them coming in 2024.
Her match against Gergana Topalova at the Budapest Grand Prix in July is the sixth-longest match of her career as she slugged it out for three hours and 29 minutes against the qualifier.
The Spaniard found herself 2-5 down in the deciding set of the first-round match, but somehow managed to come away with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory.
6. Three hours and 29 minutes
But before Sorribes Tormo and Topalova, there was Hariett Dart and Marie Bouzkova as they also played for three hours and 29 minutes at the Eastbourne International.
Dart looked set for a straight-set win as she was two points away from victory on three different occasions in the second set, but it went to a tie-breaker before she won 7-5, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4.
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5. Three hours and 41 minutes
The Thailand Open 2 was blessed with two extra-long encounters as Tamara Zidansek and Nadia Podoroska were 19 minutes away from a four-hour quarter-final clash.
Zidansek looked set for an ext as she was a set and 0-2 down, but won the second-set tie-breaker and also saved four match points in the decider to win 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3).
4. Three hours and 42 minutes
The deciding set between Beatriz Haddad Maia and Magda Linette at the Abu Dhabi Open lasted “only” 57 minutes and seven games so the first two must have gone on for quite a bit.
The first two sets were shared via tie-breakers with each lasting more than an hour before Haddad Maia ran away with the third set as she claimed a 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (1-7), 6-1 victory.
3. Three hours and 43 minutes
It was all going well for Katie Volynets when she won the opening set in under an hour, but Arantxa Rus fought back to win the second set tie-breaker.
The decider also went to a tie-breaker as Volynets saved two match points before completing the 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (8-6) victory.
2. Four hours and nine minutes
Laura Siegemund and Wang Xiyu surged to the top of the 2024 list and to No 4 on the all-time Open Era list, but they have quickly been replaced.
Siegemund and Wang met in the second round at the Thailand Open and all three sets lasted over an hour with the decider taking one hour and 39 minutes to complete.
The German eventually won 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 7-6 (7-1) in the first four-hour match in women’s top-level tennis since 2011.
1. Four hours and 15 minutes
Sorribes Tormo’s second entry on this list in what is now the fourth-longest match in the Open Era.
The Spaniard looked to have her first-round China Open match against Gao Xinyu wrapped up as she opened a 5-1 lead in the third set, but the wildcard fought back only to be denied.
Sorribes Tormo came away with the 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 7-5 win.