'Nothing like a 2 a.m. win,' says Felix Auger-Aliassime ... even for the Australian Open seagulls

Monday night at the Australian Open was for the birds. A seagull had its star turn in the nearly five-hour first-round match between Felix Auger-Aliassime and Dominic Thiem.

As the riveting contest wound its way towards midnight, the bird made its appearance with Auger-Aliassime serving down 2-0 in the fourth set, right as the Canadian was ready to hit a second serve.

It picked up a bug on the court before spreading its wings and taking a lap around the playing area, to chuckles from the crowd inside Margaret Court Arena. Auger-Aliassime and Thiem, the latter of whom cracked a wry smile as the bird finally departed, (Watch the video above.)

The broadcast booth was also amused, as commentators noted that a flock of seagulls were gathered at the top of the arena.

"He wants a front row seat, he's heard it's getting good here. I mean, how are we going to get this guy out of here?," they said. "I certainly don't want to see him reproduce that meal while he's above me."

As a result of the unreasonable (and unusual) delay between serves, umpire Greg Allensworth awarded Auger-Aliassime another first serve.

But the match ultimately went viral for other reasons: Auger-Aliassime ultimately wrapped up the five-set win at 1:40 a.m. local time in four hours and 59 minutes, in what was the longest victory of his career.

"Dug deep to pull this one off tonight," the Canadian later posted on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, at 5:15 a.m. Tuesday in Melbourne. "Nothing like a 2 a.m. win in front of the Aussie crowd."