Novak Djokovic's 3:07 a.m. finish caps off an unforgettable Roland Garros relay race

PARIS—Late Saturday night, Novak Djokovic stepped onto Court Philippe Chatrier for his third-round match with Lorenzo Musetti.

By early Sunday morning—with the on-court clock ticking over to four hours and 29 minutes just after Djokovic wrapped up another Grand Slam victory he won't soon forget—the 24-time major champion prevailed at 3:07 a.m. to claim the latest finish in Roland Garros history. (For more on this match, click on the link.)

But before we reached that point of madness, there was plenty of mania happening everywhere throughout the grounds. When wet conditions finally cleared out in the evening hours, organizers scrambled to get delayed matches completed.

A photo recap documenting what it was like trying to keep up:

Daniil Medvedev brought back black leggings for a contrasting look to opponent Tomas Machac and his short shorts. He went up two sets to love, before the Czech hit back to make proceedings interesting under the roof at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Spotting that Zheng Qinwen had erased a 2-5 deficit, it was time to dash over to Court Simonne Mathieu to see the conclusion of her match with Elina Avanesyan. Giving the Australian Open finalist all sorts of trouble with her moon balls, the elated Russian extended her best major run.

By that time, Tallon Griekspoor was on his way to building a double-break advantage against Alexander Zverev in their deciding set. But the three-time semifinalist here would close the deficit and like Avanesyan, stepped up in a decisive breaker to move forward.

Grigor Dimitrov's encounter with Zizou Bergs was relocated from Court 14 to Chatrier, a bonus offering for day session ticket holders. The Bulgarian powered his way to a two-set lead before finding himself locked in a battle with the qualifier.

Heading down the main walkway on site to Lenglen, it remained to be seen whether Emma Navarro would recover from failing to serve out her match with Madison Keys. The 23-year-old ultimately emerged as the steadier tiebreak competitor, ousting the incoming Strasbourg champion to book her maiden fourth-round major berth.

After loading up on carbs (chicken and rice in case one is wondering), a return to Lenglen saw Tomas Etcheverry roll through his second set against the runner-up the past two years, Casper Ruud.

With the two locked at one-set all, another trek—to Court 14 on this occasion—presented the opportunity to see Taylor Fritz hold off Thanasi Kokkinakis' comeback bid in five sets to achieve his best result at the clay-court Grand Slam event.

A period was needed to transfer files before capturing Ruud separating himself from Etcheverry in booking another round of 16 trip. Fritz awaits the Norwegian.

A sprint to Chatrier paid off in getting a frame of the shot that clinched Musetti his second set with Djokovic. Would it go the distance like their 2021 round-of-16 encounter?

Appearing more than plausible, it opened a window to process a sizeable batch of pictures and answer a string of messages. But once Djokovic pushed the contest into a decider, Chatrier was the only place to be.

With his vast experience inside this venue, the three-time champion picked the right moments to go for rally-ending shots as Musetti couldn’t sustain the level that kept him toe-to-toe with Djokovic.

When all was said and done, the world No. 1 raised his arms in triumph, embraced Musetti, dropped his racquet, let out a roar and blew a kiss to a dedicated block of fans who helped pull him through.

It was the ultimate way to cap off an unforgettable Saturday that far exceeded a midnight in Paris—and anything like we've ever witnessed before at Roland Garros.