French Open champion Francesca Schiavone needed a women’s Grand Slam-record of 4 hours, 44 minutes to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova and advance to the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time in 11 attempts.
The Italian won 6-4, 1-6, 16-14 on Sunday, including a three-hour third set in which she saved six match points.
The longest previous women’s match in a Grand Slam tournament was at Melbourne Park last year, when Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova beat Regina Kulikova 7-6 (5), 6-7 (10), 6-3 in a match lasting 4 hours, 19 minutes.
Schiavone won on her third match point in the 30th game of the final set.
She will take on top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals.
