MOSCOW: Richel Hogenkamp beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in a record four-hour marathon to give the Netherlands a shock 2-0 lead in their Fed Cup opening round tie against Russia on Saturday.
Hogenkamp, who is ranked 141 in the world, survived a match point to win 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 10-8 in her first ever meeting with world number 17 Kuznetsova on the hardcourt of Moscow's Olympic indoor arena.
The match was the longest singles rubber in Fed Cup history, beating the previous best set in 2005, when Vilmarie Castellvi of Puerto Rico beat Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada in three hours and 49 minutes.
Kiki Bertens, ranked 106 in the world, earlier put her country 1-0 up beating 31st-ranked Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-4.
"I'm very happy that I'm the one who could make it 2-0 today," Hogenkamp told the press. "And of course it feels great to win the longest match in Fed Cup history."
"I was trying to play my own game and it worked well. It's a good score after the first day but in Fed Cup you still need to win three rubbers so we're not there yet."
The 30-year-old two-time former Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova and Hogenkamp traded breaks throughout the opening set but a tiebreak was needed.
In the breaker, Hogenkamp was the more composed and took a one-set lead after one hour six minutes.
In the second set, Kuznetsova broke serve twice for a 4-0 lead before Hogenkamp rallied to level at four games all.
But the Russian veteran added another break in the 12th game to over-power her rival and level at one set all after two hours 19 minutes on court.
The 23-year-old Dutchwoman broke early in the deciding set but Kuznetsova broke back in the 10th game to level. Hogenkamp then produced the deciding break in the 17th game.
The reverse singles and the doubles encounter will continue the tie's schedule on Sunday when Russia may be tempted to call on Maria Sharapova who wanted to sit out the singles due to a forearm injury.
The world number six had only been scheduled to play in the doubles rubber.
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