Alcaraz beats Sinner in the match with the last finish time in US Open history

NEW YORK – This was a game that would not end. Shouldn’t end, you could say. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, two of men’s tennis’ brightest young stars, traded top quality shots and countless swing swings over five sterling sets for 5 hours and 15 minutes until Alcaraz finally won the final point at 2:50 a.m. on Thursday, the latest finish in US Open history.

It was “only” a quarter-final, no trophy at stake, but still an exciting thriller like this year’s tournament has produced or will probably produce in the future, a tour de force with big cuts in the full sprint and a lot of courage at the end as a 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-3 win for No. 3 seeded Alcaraz, a 19-year-old Spaniard.

“Honestly,” said Alcaraz, who saved a match point in the fourth set, “I still don’t know how I did it.”

He also used words like “incredible” and “amazing”. There is no exaggeration there.

“This is going to hurt for a while,” said Sinner No. 11, a 21-year-old from Italy. “But tomorrow I’m going to wake up — or today I’m going to wake up — and try to kind of just (take away) the positive things.”

When the 382nd and final point was over, Sinner and Alcaraz hugged. A handshake at the net would not be enough.

Alcaraz reached his first Grand Slam semifinal and is the youngest man to get that far at the US Open since Pete Sampras won the title in 1990 at the age of 19.

Alcaraz has a chance to move up to No. 1 in the standings next week and meets No. 22 Frances Tiafoe of the United States on Friday. The other men’s semifinal of the day is Casper Ruud #5 of Norway vs Karen Khachanov #27 of Russia.

That match started around 9:35 p.m. Wednesday night, easily surpassing the previous mark for the last finish time at the US Open, which had been 2:26 a.m. split over three games.

Alcaraz has been working overtime in New York: his five-set win over 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic in the fourth round came to an end at 2:23 a.m. on Tuesday.

“I always say you have to believe in yourself all the time,” said Alcaraz. “Hope is the last thing you lose.”

After his much more mundane three-set win over Andrey Rublev in a quarterfinal that ended around 4:45pm on Wednesday, Tiafoe was quite prescient when asked about Alcaraz and Sinner.

“I just hope they play a marathon match, a super long match,” Tiafoe said with a smile, “and they get really tired on Friday.”

This was not only late, but also long: only a 5-hour, 26-minute match between Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang in 1992 lasted longer at the US Open.

Asked how he was feeling physically out there against Sinner, Alcaraz began with a quick reply: “I felt great.”

He then paused and smiled before continuing, “Well, probably by the end of the game, I was exhausted.”

The clock was already past 2am when Coco Gauff, the 18-year-old American who finished second at the French Open and was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the US Open on Tuesday, spoke for everyone paying attention to Alcaraz vs. Sinner when she tweeted : “This match is crazy. I drive to the airport at 6am but I refuse to sleep and I miss this. #sinner #Alcaraz”

Yet even with thousands upon thousands of empty seats, there were enough that stayed put to sometimes make as much noise as a full house. Both players waved their racquets or waved their arms to encourage fans to get even louder. And of course the fans would agree.

“Could have finished in three sentences. Could have finished in four sets. Could have finished in five sentences,” said Sinner. “We both definitely wanted to win. We both did our best.”

It was a back and forth as can be. The highlights were too many to list them all. Just one thing: Alcaraz won a point after extending a rally by wrapping his racquet behind his back to make contact with the ball. One more thing: Alcaraz fell on his bum and then jumped up to run to hit a backhand that won that point.

After winning the first set, Alcaraz held five set points in the second – but Sinner saved them all.

In the third break, Alcaraz broke to lead 6-5 and served for the set – but Sinner broke to force a tiebreak which he dominated.

In the fourth it was Sinner, who served 5-4 for the match and was even a point away from victory there – but Alcaraz broke and pushed what was already a masterpiece to a fifth in the end.

And in the fifth, after another memorable shot – a running backhand passing winner that sailed right past Sinner’s outstretched arm – scoring a break point and a chance for a 5-3 lead, Alcaraz put a finger to his ear.

He would convert that and then serve. When the end came, Alcaraz flopped onto his back, his chest heaving and covering his face with his hand.