Alexander Zverev and Jenson Brooksby play out latest ever finish to pro match

Alexander Zverev and Jenson Brooksby created history in Acapulco as their overnight tussle at the Mexican Open became the latest ever finish to a professional match, ending shortly before 5am local time.

The German second seed claimed a 3-6 7-6 (10) 6-2 victory in the best part of three and half hours, eclipsing the 2008 Australian Open match between Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis, which finished at 4.34am.

A late conclusion was always on the cards as the match did not start until 1.30am but, when American Brooksby won the first set in 43 minutes, bedtime appeared relatively close.

However, it was a 111-minute second set that did the damage, with Zverev saving two match points in a mammoth tie-break before sending it to a decider.

Momentum swung in his favour and he secured two breaks in the third set to wrap up victory at 4.55am – just over two hours before sunrise.

“Right now I’m happy that I won,” said Zverev on atptour.com. “I don’t know how Jenson feels, but it must be difficult. I’m happy to be a part of history. It was an incredible battle, I think it was an incredible match, and hopefully many more to come from me this week.

“Today I didn’t play my best, there’s no doubt about it, but I didn’t give up. I knew that I want to do well, I’m the defending champion and I want to give myself the best chance to win. I did well to survive.”

The match followed similarly marathon victories for John Isner and Stefan Kozlov, with play not starting until the evening because of the hot and humid conditions.

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