Top 10 longest WTA matches in 2023: New entry on the list after Katerina Siniakova’s marathon in Nanchang

Shahida Jacobs 23 Oct 2023 11:32 AM

A delighted Katerina Siniakova after her tennis match

Katerina Siniakova and Marie Bouzkova have set a record for the longest final on the WTA Tour in 2023, but Beatriz Haddad Maia remains the marathon woman as she features several times on the top 10 list.

The Brazilian has been involved in six three-hour-plus matches this year and four of them feature in the top 10.

10. Three hours and 29 minutes

Unsurprisingly, Beatriz Haddad Maia gets us underway with the top 10 as her first-round clash with Sorana Cirstea at this year’s Dubai Tennis Championship went all the way.

The Brazilian had two match points, but it was Cirstea who emerged victorious with the score 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5 after three hours and 29 minutes.

9. Three hours and 30 minutes

Beatriz Haddad Maia went one minute longer in the first round of the Hong Kong Open and this time she was the last woman standing during her clash against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Seeded second, the Brazilian claimed a 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) win although she ended up losing in the second round.

8. Three hours and 32 minutes

Although a lot of credit has to go to Kaia Kanepi for fighting back and saving three match points, Camila Giorgi made life difficult for herself at the Miami Open as she spurned good opportunities in all three sets.

She was up 5-2 in the opening set before edging the tie-breaker while she also led 4-2 in the second and was 5-0 in the lead in the decider.

The Italian eventually won 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (4-7).

7. Three hours and 32 minutes

Erika Andreeva only found out 30 minutes before her match against Harriet Dart that she would play in the main draw of the ATX Open in Austin.

The 19-year-old, the older sister of 16-year-old Mirra, went on to pull off a miracle win over Dart, saving two match points during the 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) slugathon.

6. Three hours and 33 minutes

Katerina Siniakova’s win over Marie Bouzkova is the new entry on the top 10 list and also the longest final of the 2023 WTA Tour season.

In the battle of the Czech compatriots, Siniakova saved three match points before defeating Bouzkova 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4). The first set took 34 minutes to complete, the second set one hour and 38 minutes and the final set one hour and 21 minutes.

The ultimate Houdini act @K_Siniakova saves 3️⃣ championship points & defeats Bouzkova 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6 to take the Nanchang title!#JiangxiOpen pic.twitter.com/SFsFlWNfJU

— wta (@WTA) October 22, 2023

5. Three hours and 34 minutes

Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Anna Bondar went one minute longer than Siniakova and Bouzkova in the semi-final of the Swiss Open in Lausanne in July.

Italian Cocciaretto, who went on to win the title, lost the opening set after initially leading 5-2 and then saved a match point in the second set before winning 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.

4. Three hours and 40 minutes

The first Grand Slam match on the top 10 list came at Wimbledon when Lesia Tsurenko edged Ana Bogdan in the third round.

The Ukrainian saved five match points before winning 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (20-18) with the final set lasting one hour and 45 minutes. The tie-breaker alone was 37 minutes long and it is the longest women’s singles tie-breaker in Grand Slam history.

3. Three hours and 40 minutes

In the joint-longest grass-court match in this decade, world No 15 Liudmila Samsonova took on world No 450 Lena Papadakis in the opening round of the Libema Open and was made to work for her win.

German qualifier Papadakis held a 5-3 advantage in the deciding set before the second-seeded Samsonova bounced back to win 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3).

2. Three hours and 41 minutes

A third entry for Beatriz Haddad Maia and she was again on the losing side in the quarter-final at Rome as Anhelina Kalinina came out on top of their three-hour marathon.

The Brazilian found herself 3-0 up in the decider, but Kalinina won the final six games to secure a famous 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (10-6), 6-3 victory.

1. Three hours and 51 minutes

Beatriz Haddad Maia was the first name on the top 10 list and she is also the last name on the list as she battled for nearly four hours with Sara Sorribes Tormo at this year’s French Open.

Squaring off in the fourth round at Roland Garros, the pair were involved in the third-longest WTA match at Roland Garros with the Brazilian winning 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-5. Although it didn’t go to a tie-breaker, the third set took one hour and 23 minutes to complete.