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A day after the Australian Open schedule was thrown into chaos, organisers have moved the start time of the first match on Rod Laver Arena forward by an hour
Australian Open organisers appear to have learned a harsh lesson, moving the start time of the first match on Rod Laver Arena forward by an hour.
The first centre court match on Wednesday will begin at 12pm, a day after a legends doubles encounter, featuring the likes of long-retired pair Mark Philippoussis and Marcos Baghdatis, inexplicably kicked off proceedings.
The next match, a quarter-final between US Open champion Coco Gauff and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, didn't start until 1pm and ended up lasting more than three hours.
That epic battle threw the entire schedule into chaos, with three further singles matches still to be played on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka's quarter-final against Czech ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova didn't get underway until 9.09 pm, more than two hours after the night session could have started.
Fortunately for organisers, the red-hot Sabalenka powered into another semi-final by completing her victory in just 71 minutes.
Italian fourth seed Jannik Sinner took to the court against Russian Andrey Rublev at 10.42 pm, with the straight-sets match not finishing until 1.21 pm.
It was nowhere close to the famous Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis 4.33 am finish at Melbourne Park in 2008, or even last year's 4.05 am mark by Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis.
The scheduling made a mockery of tournament director Craig Tiley's explanation for adding an extra day to this year's Australian Open for the first time.
"We've listened to feedback from the players and fans and are excited to deliver a solution to minimise late finishes while continuing to provide a fair and equitable schedule on the stadium courts," Tiley proclaimed in October.
Unseeded Czech teenager Linda Noskova and Ukraine qualifier Dayana Yastremska's quarter-final will be the first match on Wednesday, starting at 12pm.
Third seed Daniil Medvedev has an opportunity to qualify for his third semi-final at Melbourne Park when he faces Hungary's Hubert Hurkacz in last-eight clash.
The night session will feature unseeded Russian Anna Kalinskaya up against Chinese dark horse Qinwen Zheng, while young Spanish star Carlos Alcarav will aim to advance to the last four at Melbourne Park for the first time when he faces German sixth seed Alexander Zverev.
