US Open: A marathon for Djokovic.

The third round matches of the 2007 US Open were upon completion tonight and the highlight of this night has to go to the marathon match played by Novak Djokovic (3) and Radek Stepanek.

The battle was spectacular, lasted 4 hours and 44 minutes, was punctuated of at least three standing ovations from the crowd and tied a US Open record for the total number of games played.

Novak Djokovic used all of his ressources during the marathon to finally win the match in five excruciating sets of 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 5-7 and 7-6 (7-2). A grand total of 63 games were played during the match, tying the US Open record for a single match since the tie-breaker rule was inserted in 1970.

Djokovic said after the match that he was completely drained and that his shoes were smelling really bad....

A long battle like this can really handicap Novak Djokovic. If he wants to keep his hopes high for the second week, he needs some rest and a rapid 3 consecutive set win during the 4th round match to give himself a chance to recover.

(Picture: Novak Djokovic, Canadian Press)