Dejected sixth seed Karolina Pliskova said Australian Open organisers should do away with late-night/early morning matches after crashing out in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Pliskova was trampled 6-3, 6-2 by world number one Simona Halep in a match that started just before 4:00 pm Wednesday. She complained about her fourth-round match with fellow Czech Barbora Strycova. That had started with dwindling spectator numbers at around 11:00 pm Monday and stretched to three sets and 2hr 41min until nearly 2:00 am Tuesday.
“I think just these late night matches they should cancel,” Pliskova told reporters after her 71-minute drubbing on Rod Laver Arena Wednesday. “I went to sleep at seven in the morning yesterday,” lamented the world number six.
By then her quarter-final opponent Halep had been tucked up in bed all night, having played her match against Naomi Osaka in the afternoon.
“I put alarm at 12 (noon), just to try to have a normal day,” Pliskova said. “I went to hit. Overall after was fine. But still it changed a little bit. Today was a day match. It’s completely different. Every match for me was different.”
This year had already seen a new record for the latest start to a match at the Australian Open when Daria Gavrilova’s second-round match against Elise Mertens began 11:59 pm. Pliskova’s three-setter, however, finished early compared to the all-time record.
The latest end to a match at any Grand Slam was at Melbourne Park in 2008 when Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis finished a five-setter at 4:33 am.
-Inputs by AFP
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