Grigor Dimitrov played to 2:00am on Sunday as he beat Richard Gasquet to reach the Australian Open's last 16, recalling the tournament's infamous late - or early - finishes. Play got underway at two minutes to midnight and Dimitrov took two hours, two minutes to oust Gasquet 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, following Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams into the fourth round.
The timing had echoes of the 2008 clash between Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis, which started at 11:47pm and wrapped up at a bleary-eyed 4:34am the following day.
In 2012, the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal started before 8:00pm and went on for a record five hours and 53 minutes, finishing at 1:40am.
Scattered groups of fans at Rod Laver Arena sipped coffee and huddled in towels against the early-hours chill as Dimitrov broke his French opponent's serve five times.
"Lately I've been struggling with my sleeping so I've been going to bed so late, so today it's 2:00am and I'm feeling great," smiled the 15th-seeded Bulgarian.
"It's going to take a while to fall asleep so I might go and practice again," he joked.
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