In a U.S. Open match for the ages — one that seemingly went on for ages — Marin Cilic rallied for a 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 third-round win over Alex de Minaur.

Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champ, dropped the first two sets and seemed headed home from Flushing Meadows. But the seventh-seeded Croatian crawled back to pull out a marathon that took four hours and didn’t end until after 2:20 a.m. Sunday morning, the fourth-latest match in Open history.

Caught off balance early, Cilic got more patient, put spin on his shots and made his 19-year-old Aussie foe run and work, work and run. It got him right back in the match by taking the third and fourth sets and put him in position to win it.

Cilic hit his 12th ace to go up 5-2 but couldn’t close the match out there. Despite triple match point, de Minaur held in a 10:26 game, then broke to get within 5-4. The young Aussie held serve to draw level. But finally, on his eighth match point, Cilic hit a crosscourt forehand winner to seal a Round of 16 date vs. David Goffin.

It marked the fifth time Cilic had come back from two sets down to win and marked his 29th five-set victory, second-most among active players.

“Incredibly happy. Just an insane atmosphere,” Cilic said in an on-court TV interview. “Incredible spirit, incredible fighting spirit [from De Minaur]. He was fighting his heart out. What a comeback he made at 5-2. … He played some amazing tennis. A couple points took him away from a victory. I was just a little lucky.”