Garbine Muguruza joked that she was heading for breakfast after beating Johanna Konta at 03:12 local time in the latest match to start in the history of the Australian Open. 

Muguruza and Konta did not begin their second-round contest until 00:30 in Melbourne on Friday, a combination of rain and a five-set victory for Alexander Zverev over Jeremy Chardy leaving them patiently waiting to make it out onto the court.  

The match would have been moved, had seagull droppings not left Court 3 in such a mess that it could not be cleaned up in time.

Neither player showed any sign of fatigue in a gripping contest in the early hours on Margaret Court Arena, though, with the 18th seed eventually winning 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 7-5. 

It took two hours and 42 minutes to separate the two-time grand slam champion and Konta, a semi-finalist at the tournament in 2016.

Spaniard Muguruza said in her on-court interview: "I can't believe there are people watching us at 3:15am.

"It was very tough. Johanna played very good, serving incredibly and hitting big shots." 

Asked what she would do after setting up a match with Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky in the next round, she said: "I go to breakfast now."