Novak Djokovic yesterday beat Rafael Nadal to win the Australian Open title in the longest ever Grand Slam final, which clocked in at five hours and 53 minutes.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at some other marathon sporting tussles.


Look at the time! Novak Djokovic poses with the Norman Brookes
Challenge Cup and the clock after winning championship point and playing
in the longest Grand Slam final ever in his men's final match against
Rafael Nadal at Melbourne Park yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

Tennis
Djokovic and Nadal may have played out the longest Grand Slam final, but the longest match remains the epic played out between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon two years ago. Isner eventually prevailed 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7/9) 7-6 (7/3) 70-68 in a match that spanned 11 hours and five minutes over three days. The final set alone lasted over eight hours and numerous records were broken, including Isner's 113 aces.

Chess
Anatoly Karpov looked set to win the 1984 World Chess Championship easily when he opened up a 4-0 lead over Gary Kasparov. But Garry Kasparov had an advantage, he was 12 years younger than his fellow Soviet, so he embarked on a strategy to drain his opponent.

After five months, and with the score at five wins for Karpov, three for Kasparov and 40 draws, the match was postponed because of fears for the players' health. A rematch, limited to 24 games, took place in 1985, with Kasparov winning 13-11.

Cricket
The longest cricket match took place between South Africa and England in Durban in 1939. It began on March 3 and continued until March 14, although there was no play on three of the days. The outcome still ended up being a draw as England had to catch a boat home on March 15. The match spanned 43 hours and 16 minutes of playing time in which 1,981 runs were scored.

Football
In 1979, Arsenal needed four replays to get past Sheffield Wednesday in an epic FA Cup third-round tie.
The original match was a 1-1 draw, with Third Division Wednesday then holding their top-flight opponents to the same scoreline in the first replay.

A 2-2 draw and a 3-3 draw followed before Arsenal finally won 2-0. The longest FA Cup tie came eight years earlier when Oxford City and Alvechurch played six matches. Alvechurch won the final game 1-0 to progress to the first round proper.

Snooker
In 1985, Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis on the final black of the 35th frame in one of the most famous World Championship finals. Underdog Taylor fought back from 8-0 and then 17-15 down before a 68-minute final frame that the Northern Irishman took on his fourth chance at the black. The match lasted 14 hours and 50 minutes, finishing at 12.19am, and the climax was watched by 18.5million television viewers.