Australian Open organisers seem to have realized a harsh lesson, transferring the beginning time of the primary match on Rod Laver Enviornment ahead by an hour.
The primary centre court docket match on Wednesday will start at 12pm, a day after a legends doubles encounter, that includes the likes of long-retired pair Mark Philippoussis and Marcos Baghdatis, inexplicably kicked off proceedings.
The following match, a quarter-final between US Open champion Coco Gauff and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, did not begin till 1pm and ended up lasting greater than three hours.
That epic battle threw all the schedule into chaos, with three additional singles matches nonetheless to be performed on Rod Laver Enviornment on Tuesday.
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka’s quarter-final in opposition to Czech ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova did not get underway till 9.09 pm, greater than two hours after the evening session may have began.
Thankfully for organisers, the red-hot Sabalenka powered into one other semi-final by finishing her victory in simply 71 minutes.
Italian fourth seed Jannik Sinner took to the court docket in opposition to Russian Andrey Rublev at 10.42 pm, with the straight-sets match not ending till 1.21 pm.
It was nowhere near the well-known Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis 4.33 am end at Melbourne Park in 2008, and even final yr’s 4.05 am mark by Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis.
The scheduling made a mockery of match director Craig Tiley’s clarification for including an additional day to this yr’s Australian Open for the primary time.
“We have listened to suggestions from the gamers and followers and are excited to ship an answer to minimise late finishes whereas persevering with to offer a good and equitable schedule on the stadium courts,” Tiley proclaimed in October.
Unseeded Czech teenager Linda Noskova and Ukraine qualifier Dayana Yastremska’s quarter-final would be the first match on Wednesday, beginning at 12pm.
Third seed Daniil Medvedev has a chance to qualify for his third semi-final at Melbourne Park when he faces Hungary’s Hubert Hurkacz in last-eight conflict.
The evening session will function unseeded Russian Anna Kalinskaya up in opposition to Chinese language darkish horse Qinwen Zheng, whereas younger Spanish star Carlos Alcarav will intention to advance to the final 4 at Melbourne Park for the primary time when he faces German sixth seed Alexander Zverev.
