Most tennis matches typically last around five hours to complete, but this one from the second round of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships took over 16 hours to reach a conclusion.
Wimbledon, a tournament steeped in history and unique rules, requires all play to be stopped immediately following sundown due to darkness. What this means for most matches is if they start later than expected, which is often the case in a tournament, they run the risk of being postponed to the following day.
So, for former Gator national champion Ben Shelton, his match against Rinky Hijikata was stopped at 9:29 pm local time on Thursday, July 3, despite the American needing one game to take the match in straight sets. The two returned to the court on Friday, as soon as play started.
Not fazed by the delay, Shelton cruised to a straight-sets victory in the second round of singles at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships over Hijikata, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4, punching his ticket to the third round for the second consecutive year.
Shelton fought off Australian Alex Bolt in his first-round match, which was tighter than the box score indicates. Despite winning in straight sets, the Gainesville native was taken to two tiebreakers in the second and third sets.
Meanwhile, Hijikata, a 24-year-old from Sydney, opened his campaign at Wimbledon with a straight sets win over David Goffin of Belgium, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1. His match against Shelton marked the Australians’ first time in the second round of singles at the tournament.
The two played each other in the main bracket of a tournament once prior to their second-round matchup. In the 2024 Mallorca Championships, Shelton, who was the No. 1 seed, prevailed over Hijikata in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0.
To start the contest, the two traded holds until the fifth game, where Shelton broke Hijikata to take a 3-2 lead. The former Gator rode that momentum, taking the following three games and the first set 6-2. During this opening set, Shelton kept his opponent pointless in his four service games.
In the second set, the two raided holds again, but this time to tie things up at three. After Hitikata held Shelton, he pushed the Americans back against the wall with a chance to break. The former national champion stood tall once again to hold and keep the second set at 4-4.
Shelton took a 6-5 lead after securing another crucial break point. With his hard-hitting serve, the No. 10 ranked player in the world took no time to grab the second set 7-5, taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the contest.
In between the second and third sets, Hijikata took his time to return to the court in an attempt to have the match postponed for darkness to stop Shelton’s momentum. With the support of the crowd and Shelton, the umpire allowed the match to go into its third set.
Shelton took the gamesmanship to heart, breaking the Aussie to start the third set and then holding to take a 2-0 advantage. With a breakpoint and the chance to take a 4-1 lead, Shelton was unable to put his opponent away. Hijikata continued to apply pressure on Shelton, but the American stayed strong to take a 5-3 lead despite Shelton’s triple match point.
Hijikata held once more to cut the deficit to 5-4, but with Shelton ready to serve and clinch the match, the umpire called for the match to be postponed.
The two returned to start play on Friday, and it took Shelton just over a minute to end the match in straight sets.
Next, Shelton will play Márton Fucsovics of Hungary in the third round on Saturday, July 5.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the Summer 2025 women's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams.
