CNN
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At 2:15 a.m. ET, the last ball was hit and China’s Zheng Qinwen and Donna Vekić of Croatia ensured the latest finish to a women’s match in US Open history.

World number seven Zheng defeated 24th-ranked Vekić 7-6(2), 4-6 and 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.

The latest time to end a women’s US Open match was 2:13 a.m. ET, when Greece’s Maria Sakkari defeated Canada’s Bianca Andreescu 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-3 in the fourth round of 2021.

The match between Zheng and Vekić began shortly before 11:30 p.m. ET on Sunday and lasted two hours and 50 minutes.

It was a repeat of the battle for the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, where Zheng won gold and Vekić won silver.

Despite the super late finish, this round of 16 match at Arthur Ashe Stadium was of high quality. Zheng and Vekić combined for 67 winners and 57 unforced errors.

Recently retired tennis star Andy Murray took to X (formerly known as Twitter) in the third set, calling out the four Grand Slam events – US Open, Australian Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros – as well as the ATP Tour, WTA Tour and the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

“Scheduling in tennis is a total mess,” Murray said in his post. “It looks so amateurish when matches are played at 2, 3 or 4 in the morning. Fix it.”

CNN has asked the US Tennis Association (USTA) for comment on tournament planning.

Zheng will face No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals, a rematch of this year’s Australian Open final.