MELBOURNE – Qualifying began at 10 a.m. Thursday morning.
And by 9 p.m., under the lights, these two were still going at it.
In the end, Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France, the No. 27 seed in the qualifying, outlasted Andrea Arnaboldi of Italy after nearly being out of it in straight sets.
Final score was 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Arnaboldi, who just turned 26, is at No. 213, a few spots off a career best reached in 2009.
He doesn’t even rate a pic with his bio on the ATP Tour web site.
Arnaboldi also has never qualified at a Grand Slam. He came closest at the U.S. Open last fall (his first attempt in two years), where he lost in a third-set tiebreaker in the final round.
These two might have been keeping some grumbly people working late. But it meant everything to them.