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Wawrinka: “the greatest loser of all time”

Keystone

That was the headline, intended to be affectionate, in the SonntagsBlick newspaper following the longest doubles match ever: seven hours and one minute. Sadly for the Swiss, they were on the losing end.

Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli were playing Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol from the Czech Republic in a Davis Cup match in Geneva. Despite saving 12 match points, the Swiss eventually lost 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-7 24-22, in what was the longest doubles match ever (and the second-longest match ever).

Saturday’s result was the second epic loss for Wawrinka within a fortnight: on January 20, the world number 17 played the match of his life in the fourth round of the Australian Open to push world number one Novak Djokovic to five sets, losing 12-10 in the fifth. That match lasted a mere five hours and two minutes.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR