Video: Italy’s Arnaboldi Wins Longest French Open Qualification Match in History

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Video: Italy’s Arnaboldi Wins Longest French Open Qualification Match in History

In a match that stretched over two days and four hours and 26 minutes of elapsed time, Andrea Arnaboldi defeated France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 6-4, 3-6, 27-25, to reach the third round of qualifying at Roland Garros.

It was the longest match, in terms of games, in the history of qualifying at the event.

Andrea Arnaboldi segna un record alle qualificazioni #RG15: batte Herbert 27-25 al terzo set dopo 4h e 30'! pic.twitter.com/sgprVNj9Or
— We Are Tennis Italia (@WeAreTennisITA) May 21, 2015

The match surpassed the previous longest qualifying tilt in terms of games, which was set in 1996 when Daniel Nestor beat Thierry Guardiola, 4-6, 6-3, 22-20.

In terms of length, Arnaboldi and Herbert’s epic falls short of Kurumi Nara and Monica Niculescu’s four hour and 42-minute battle in 2010 (won by Nara, 10-8 in the third).

Herbert served 19 aces in the final set, but could not stop the Italian from breaking him with a pinpoint passing shot to close the match.

On Twitter, some used the occasion to air out their belief that a deciding set should be ended with a tiebreaker at some point, in order to save the bodies of the players:

I think the match loses its drama when it drags on that long. By 10-10 you want a winner? A TB is always drama IMO. https://t.co/h1UDlkU0uB
— Rob Koenig (@RobKoenigTennis) May 21, 2015

Agree, T. If you can't separate yourselves after 4 sets and 12 games, it a close contest, right. So put an end to it https://t.co/1Elb1DL6TI
— Rob Koenig (@RobKoenigTennis) May 21, 2015

Video and Screen Cap courtesy of Stefano Berlincioni. Follow him on Twitter here

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