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Australian Open 2017: Start time record broken as Grigor Dimitrov defeats Richard Gasquet

Melissa Singer
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While most people are up and about this Sunday morning, Bulgarian 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov will hopefully be asleep, and for good reason.

Dimitrov's straight-sets win over Frenchman Richard Gasquet, the 18th seed, began at 11.58pm, the latest start to a match in Australian Open history.

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While the three-setter wasn't the latest finish, a delayed night session, owing to Rafael Nadal's epic five-set encounter with German youngster Alexander "Sascha" Zverev, meant both night matches were delayed.

After Australian Daria "Dasha" Gavrilova took three sets to dispatch Switzerland's Timea Bacsinzky, in two and a half hours, Dimitrov and Gasquet were kept in the wings until well past 11.30pm.

While many in the crowd at Rod Laver Arena left before the end of the match, some fans stayed until the eventual 2am finish, slugging it out with the players.

But while the spectators were, assumedly, straight home to bed, the victor, Dimitrov, still had some work to do.

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"Hopefully by five I'm going to be done with everything, all the stretchings, the rehab, just sleep in, come back tomorrow, hit some balls. Kind of go to bed again," he said in his post-match press conference.

Dimitrov, a former world No. 8, has set up a thrilling fourth-round showdown with Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, who beat both defending champion Novak Djokovic and Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in five-set matches to progress to the fourth round.

He said he would not request a later start time on Monday owing to his late match against Gasquet.

"I'm not one of those guys that go, 'Can you please play me at 1am in the morning,' whatever. Whatever time. I really don't care. I wouldn't think they're going to put us early to play anyway," he said.

While over the years there has been some talk about a match curfew at the Australian Open, Dimitrov said it's just part of the game.

"We had matches in the past finishing four, five in the morning. It's in the game. Whatever it is, it's in the game. I just had to deal with whatever was in front of me," he said.

The latest match ever played at the Australian Open, or any grand slam, was in 2008, between Australian Lleyton Hewitt and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, a five-set match that finished at 4.33am.

Dimitrov revealed he had been spending some time away from Melbourne Park visiting video game arcades to wind down.

"It's important to kind of disconnect a little bit, just hang out with friends, walk around, do whatever you feel like doing. I think it's very important for the mind and the body to be synchronised with you. If you feel that you're in one element, it always feels good to be on the court warming up, you feel loose, happy," he said.