Novak Djokovic-Sebastian Korda match postponed at Miami Open due to ATP rule to prevent late finishes

For once in tennis, sanity prevailed.

Following a rule enacted last year to prevent late finishes, organizers of the Miami Open postponed Wednesday night’s match between Novak Djokovic and Sebastian Korda following a long day of tennis at Hard Rock Stadium.

Andrew Krasny, tennis host and producer, made the announcement to an annoyed crowd of 13,000 people who had watched the nearly two-and-a-half-hour battle between Emma Raducanu and Jessica Pegula. Pegula won in three sets, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2.

“In accordance with ATP rules that do not allow for a match to go on court after 11 p.m., the match between Novak Djokovic and Sebastian Korda has been postponed until tomorrow and will be the third match from 1 p.m.,” Krasny told the crowd.

Spectators howled and whistled and drowned out the second half of his statement, calling their attention to a QR code on the giant screens that they could use to purchase $10 tickets for Thursday’s day session.

The reason for the late finish Wednesday began Tuesday, when rain disrupted play for about four hours. That caused organizers to postpone a night match between Arthur Fils and Alexander Zverev to Wednesday afternoon. But they didn’t move the start time of 1 p.m. earlier, hoping to get three matches in in less than six hours to keep everything on time.

That didn’t happen. Iga Swiatek lost to Alexandra Eala in straight sets, but the Fils-Zverev match went three sets. Then, the next match between Grigor Dimitrov and Francisco Cerundolo needed a third-set tiebreak to decide a winner — Dimitrov.

Pegula and Raducanu didn’t start until about 9 p.m., which was two hours late. And they didn’t finish until nearly 11:30 p.m.

As the night stretched on, a postponement became inevitable since another three-set match would have caused the players to not get to bed until as late — or early — as 5 a.m.  The sport has been plagued by late finishes in recent years as play has become more physical and equipment has allowed players to make points, games and matches longer.

Spectators, few of whom would have stayed for the entire match, made their feelings known, then peacefully made their way to the exits.

(Photo: Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)