i don't know if anyone's talked about this while i wasn't online but the other day there was a new addition to the longest wta matches of all time! let me tell you about it
(4h43m according to the itf website, 4h45m according to flashscore. the official length is the itf website one, but for the set lengths i will be discussing here i have to use flashscore because itf only shows the total duration. so real set lengths may vary slightly. very, very slightly)
it was in the itf w35 tournament in bradenton, florida, usa, between the americans kylie collins (no.695 in wta rankings) and hina inoue (no.240)
the match started on thursday the 15th and after 4h14m it was interrupted because of rain. now, you have to understand the weather was already terrible before it finally started raining. there was insane wind. insane.
the first set lasted TWO hours and 5 minutes. you might wonder how does that even happen? when i found out (thank you jodie @stardustdahlias for noticing that crazy set duration and putting me onto this match!) i was wondering that too. i was like surely flashscore is tripping, it does happen sometimes that it glitches or is wrong in bizarre ways. so i pull up the stream on the itf website and try to figure it out. and it really did last 2 hours. the 4th game lasted 23 minutes:
i'm never calling anything else deuce hell again. but it wasn't even just the deuces —when you consider the length of the game, it could've been even more deuces. for comparison, that game between sabalenka and raducanu in cincinnati was also 23 mins and it was 13 deuces— they just also played long points. in general, in the whole match or at least what i watched of it.
the 6th game lasted 16 minutes:
two other games went to deuce, they traded breaks all set, there were 8 in total and it ended in a tiebreak, won fairly easily by collins.
the second set lasted 1h29m and i watched all of it basically and it was honestly kinda insane too. i thought it was over for inoue twice but she broke back both times and took the set in the tiebreak. really impressive, losing a set that lasted 2h could've been impossible to overcome mentally. there weren't even any insane deuces games, the most was 3 in a game, but as said they just. played long points. i'm sure the wind played a part although i would've assumed they'd be sending the ball flying out often and the points would end sooner. in general though, the weather didn't help, and there also weren't ball kids so that lengthened the match a tiny bit too maybe.
the 3rd set i didn't watch but at 2-2 it was interrupted because of rain as said, and resumed on friday. when it was interrupted the set duration was at 40m —another deuce hell game, the 4th game, with 5 deuces— and in total it lasted 1h11m. shortest set and this one didn't go to tiebreak, it ended 6-4. normally, this would've been a long set. this wasn't a normal match.
now another insane fact is that inoue played the next match like, half an hour after this one ended (i'm not sure of the exact time between the matches, but it was short. it was the next match on the same court and flashscore tells me there was 1h between the start times of the two), and yeah, she played 30 minutes but she had played for 4h14m the day before. and there is the mental toll of such a long exhausting match dragging to the next day. but she played the next match soon after, and was it an easy short match? absolutely not, 3h10m and the first set was yet another tiebreak, and it lasted 1h9m. AND she lost it and still went on to win the match. i think hina inoue has a new fan in me.
i was gonna link the match because itf tour matches are often available on their website both live and through replays and it's all free, but it looks like when you go on the replay of this match there's only the 2nd day 😭😭 which is the least interesting part obviously. and tbf it wasn't the easiest stream to watch bc the camera kept moving bc of the wind and the already not great quality was worsened by the conditions. but still, history here. wish i saved the first day's stream.
