Alexander Zverev and Jenson Brooksby capped a remarkable first day of action at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC with a three-hour, 18-minute epic played out in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Defending champion Zverev was made to dig deep to save two match points in the second-set tie-break before clinching a 3-6, 7-6(10), 6-2 victory in one of the most exciting matches of 2022 so far.
The finish time of 4:55am marks the latest ever finish to an ATP tennis match, eclipsing Lleyton Hewitt’s 2008 Australian Open clash with Marcos Baghdatis, which ended at 4:34am local time.
“Right now I’m happy that I won,” said Zverev after his comeback win. “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 [there are] 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 [in Acapulco]I’m the defending champion and I want to give myself the best chance to win. I did well to survive today.”
Following similarly marathon wins for John Isner and Stefan Kozlov on centre court, Zverev and Brooksby came onto court at around 1:30am local time. The late start didn’t stop them putting on a show, however, with both players producing a top-class level to make it a trio of absorbing encounters on day one for an enraptured crowd.
3am in the morning and you’re playing rallies like this 😨@JensonBrooksby & @AlexZverev are just superhuman!#AMT2022 pic.twitter.com/jLWqmmUFmu
– Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 22, 2022
Brooksby had pushed Zverev to three sets in the pair’s only previous meeting at the 2021 BNP Paribas Open and he had the World No. 3 under pressure again early, breaking the German to love for 5-3 and converting his first set point to lead.
A marathon one-hour, 51-minute second set, packed with absorbing rallies, saw no breaks before Zverev pulled through in the tie-break to level the match.
The second seed maintained that momentum into the decider, breaking Brooksby for first time in the match for a 2-1 lead and then again to seal the win and extend his match record in Acapulco to 13-3.
Zverev’s serve was crucial in helping him defy Brooksby, the German firing nine aces overall and winning 77 per cent (55/71) of points on first serve.
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“Acapulco is always special to me,” said Zverev. “The crowd is always special. It’s always super loud here, the energy is unbelievable. At 5am the stadium is still quite full. There’s nowhere else in the world where the people appreciate tennis the way they do here.”
Zverev’s next assignment in Mexico will be a second-round meeting with Peter Gojowczyk, after the World No. 95 defeated Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 6-4.
Also on Monday, eighth seed Pablo Carreno Busta defeated qualifier Oscar Otte 6-2, 6-4 on his Acapulco debut. The World No. 17 saved three break points and converted three of his own to overcome the German and set a second-round clash with John Millman or Marcos Giron.
