HIBBING, MN — Owner Linda Pesonen unlocked the front door of the Sunrise Café at 2:47 a.m. Saturday, switched on the coffee, turned the television above the counter to ESPN2, and waited for the four people who had told her, in varying degrees of seriousness, that they would be there for the Australian Open women’s singles final. All four came.
“I told them I’d open if they were serious,” Pesonen said, refilling a cup for Don Kuusisto, a retired iron-range electrician who had driven in from Chisholm in a parka and slippers. “Don was serious. I didn’t think Don would be serious.”
The match began at 3:30 a.m. local time, which is when the women’s final is contested in Melbourne every January and which is, by general agreement in Hibbing, not when anything has ever happened on purpose. Pesonen had set out a half-pan of cinnamon rolls and a sign-up sheet for a sport none of the patrons follow during daylight.
Kuusisto was joined by Marcia Lehto, who teaches sixth grade and described herself as “a tennis person from way back, although I couldn’t tell you the last time”; by a man named Gus who declined to give a last name and said he had wandered in because the café was the only place with lights on; and by Ron Vanek, who confirmed he was there to support his wife’s interest in tennis, although his wife was at home asleep.
The four watched the first set largely in silence, except when Lehto explained the scoring to Gus, who nodded politely and ordered hashbrowns. By the second set a consensus had formed at the counter that the player in the white visor was the one to root for, on the grounds that she seemed nicer.
By 6:15 a.m. the regular breakfast crowd had begun to file in, encountered the situation, and reacted with the measured calm Hibbing brings to most departures from routine. “Why is it on Australia,” asked Bud Norgaard, looking up at the screen. Nobody had a good answer. Pesonen said she had opened for the tennis. Bud said that was fine and ordered his usual.
The match ended sometime after 7. By then the café was full, and the four originals had migrated to a corner booth, where they were quietly arguing about whether they had enjoyed it. Lehto said she had. Kuusisto said he had not minded. Gus had left without paying, although Pesonen said she didn’t feel right charging him under the circumstances, and Vanek said he would tell his wife it had been wonderful.
Pesonen plans to open at 3 a.m. again on Sunday for the men’s final, but only if at least three people sign up. As of Saturday evening, she had two.