Those lucky enough to have had tickets for day 5 of the French Open on Thursday were treated to no less than six five-set matches, with some particularly intriguing drama unfolding late at night.
Number 13 seed Holger Rune initially led Flavio Cobolli by two sets in their second-round encounter before the Italian was able to level the score. Trailing 5-0 in the fifth set match tiebreak, Rune managed to stage a last-minute comeback to winning 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7).
Norway's Casper Ruud, touted as one of the favourites to win the trophy as a two-time runner-up on the legendary clay court in Paris, needed more than four hours to battle past Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6, (7-5), 1-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis, Austrian Sebastian Ofner, the Czech Republic's Tomas Machac and Slovak Jozef Kovalik also needed five sets to secure themselves a spot in the third round.
The best-of-five format, which is only played by the men at the four Grand Slam tournaments, has long been controversial. While it allows for very dramatic twist-and-turns, critics argue that it often leads to players having to compete into the early hours of the morning.
