Alexander Zverev needed 4 hours and 33 minutes and every ounce of goodwill left in Arthur Ashe Stadium to see off Quentin Halys in the small hours of Friday morning.

The German top seed beat the Frenchman 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, sealing the win just after 2:15am local time.

By then most of the paying customers had gone home. Zverev thanked the ones who stayed.

“The couple thousand people who stayed made up for the 15,000 that left,” he said on court after the win, before offering a verdict on his own tennis that spared nobody, least of all himself.

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“The performance was quite s*** to be honest, but I won, that’s the most important thing.”

The racket that never arrived, then the shoes

The atmosphere had turned earlier, and it was equipment that lit the fuse. Zverev complained repeatedly about a freshly strung racket that had gone missing for about 45 minutes, an unusually long wait for a Grand Slam show court and one that visibly rattled the world No. 3. Sky Sports reported that a section of the Ashe crowd booed him as the request dragged on.

Then, with Halys serving to consolidate a 4-1 lead in the third set and sitting on two break points, Zverev asked the chair umpire for permission to change his shoes. The umpire’s immediate response was to try and talk him out of it.

“It would be better if you didn’t do it now.”

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Zverev pushed anyway. “Can I? Quickly?” he asked, and the change was allowed under the rules. He immediately broke back, forced a tiebreak and took the set.

A second five-set slog in a row

The match was Zverev’s second consecutive five-setter after his opening-round battle against Lorenzo Sonego. He hit 29 aces and created 20 break-point opportunities, converting five of them.

Zverev, whose fitness he has often pointed to as a strength, leaned into it in his on-court interview.

“Another four-and-a-half hours, 2:15am, that’s what I go to the gym for.”

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Tabilo next in third round

Halys, ranked No. 52 in the world, was the more expansive shot-maker for long stretches, particularly through the second and fourth sets, but was undone by Zverev’s serve and the Frenchman’s own errors in the deciding tiebreak of the third.

Zverev will face 25th seed Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in the third round.

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