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Forever Philppoussis outlasts Schalken in five-hour match
Posted: Sunday July 02, 2000 01:57 AM
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- When Mark Philippoussis won the longest fifth set at Wimbledon in the open era, he somehow summoned the strength to raise both arms in jubilation. An exhausted Philippoussis edged Sjeng Schalken 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-4), 20-18. "I feel I've just been punched to death for five hours," said Philippoussis, whose right elbow was bloodied when he dove for a shot midway through the final set. "A match like that, it's tough for someone to lose." The third-round marathon took five hours, five minutes. That was seven minutes shy of the open-era record at Wimbledon, set when Pancho Gonzalez beat Charlie Pasarell 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9 in the first round in 1969 over two days. Philippoussis' next opponent will be Tim Henman, who beat Hicham Arazi 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. When Henman took the court, Philippoussis and Schalken had just started their fifth set. When he finished, they were still playing. "I said to Philippoussis, `What took you so long? I played my match to one set of yours,'" Henman said. The final set between Philippoussis and Schalken lasted two hours, 15 minutes. The 83 games they played were the most in a match at Wimbledon since 1970, before the tiebreaker was introduced. Since the open era began in 1969, the previous longest fifth set came in Paul McNamee's 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 1-6, 19-17 victory over Todd Nelson in the opening round in 1987. Philippoussis managed the only break of the final set came in the 37th game. He belted a forehand for a winner to take a 0-30 lead, then slammed another forehand winner at 0-40 to win the game. A partisan crowd on Court 2 cheered lustily for the 10th-seeded Australian. He then hit four service winners in the next game to close out the victory. Philippoussis finished with 44 aces. "I'm a little disappointed," he joked. "I once hit 43 in three sets. That was my record, so I'm a little disappointed with 44." Twenty of his aces came in the last set, and lost his serve just twice. Schalken hit 30 aces and was broken only three times, including in the pivotal next-to-last game. "Before I took a shower, I was very mad," Schalken said. "I'm better now. I did everything I could. I could do no more." The unseeded Dutchman was eliminated by Jim Courier in the third round last year, losing 13-11 in the fifth set. "I think Wimbledon doesn't want to have me in the fourth round," Schalken said with a weary smile. He had an advantage serving first in the final set, which meant Philippoussis was always behind when serving. Schalken erased a break point at 8-8, passing Philippoussis with a running crosscourt backhand from 10 feet behind the baseline. Philippoussis dove for the ball in vain and scraped his right elbow, and blood trickled down his arm for several games. When the match reached the four-hour mark at 11-11, Schalken took a bathroom break. At 13-14, Philippoussis fell behind 0-30, then got lucky. He mis-hit a half-volley, but the ball barely cleared the net for a winner. "I jumped up just to help it go over," Philippoussis joked. He then hit a second serve that landed on the sideline for an ace, and went on to win the game. "I've always considered myself a fighter," Philippoussis said. "That was a good match for me just to hang in there. I very much enjoyed that match."
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