Stosur-Dementieva have record late finish

When Elena Dementieva sailed a forehand long at 1:35 a.m. Monday, it ended a third-set tiebreak against Samantha Stosur, who advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (2) win.

It was the latest end to a women's match in Open history, starting just before 11 p.m. and taking 2 hours, 38 minutes. Gabriela Sabatini's match against Beverly Bowes in 1987 ended at 1:30 a.m.

After Stosur dominated the first set, Dementieva gained a foothold in the second as Stosur's focus seemed to fade. Dementieva held a match point on her serve in the ninth game of the third set but didn't convert. Dementieva failed to convert three match points on Stosur's serve in the 10th game. Stosur broke Dementieva again in the 11th game. Stosur failed to convert her own match point on her serve in the 12th but sent the set to a tiebreak, which she won, 7-2.

"Just feel disappointed the way I was playing the match points," Dementieva said. "But it was really difficult to push yourself forward all the time because I was feeling like a little bit sleepy in the match."

Stosur gets defending champion Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals. Clijsters' match against Ana Ivanovic ended almost 14 hours earlier than Stosur's.

Love and understanding

The doubles pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi is one of competitive advantage and social intent. Bopanna is Indian and Hindu, Qureshi Pakistani and Muslim. They face Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman Tuesday in the quarterfinals.

As players from bordering countries that have been in conflict since the partition in 1947, Bopanna and Qureshi promote tennis as a way to peace. At Wimbledon this year, their warmup jackets had "Stop War, Start Tennis" written on the back.

Around the net

Paul Annacone, the Long Island native who is Roger Federer's new coach, officially resigned as a coach with England's Lawn Tennis Association. He did so before Andy Murray's match Sunday against Stanislas Wawrinka. Murray, a Scot, lost, which negated a potential conflict of interest for Annacone. Murray was seeded to meet Federer in the semifinals. It would have looked a little dicey for an LTA employee to be in an opponent's box . . . U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe announced Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey, John Isner and Ryan Harrison would face Colombia in Bogota Sept. 17-19. McEnroe also said he would leave the job to concentrate on player development for the U.S. Tennis Association.