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By Laura Williamson
Epic: John Isner (right) and Nicolas Mahut would not budge in their pursuit of a place in .... the second round!History was made in SW19 on Wednesday as John Isner and Nicolas Mahut battled out the longest ever tennis match.
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The pair's epic encounter has already lasted 10 hours, smashing the previous record, set by Arnaud Clement and Fabrice Santoro at the French Open in 2004, and they will have to return today after their match was suspended at 59-59 in the final set.
Santoro won that match at Roland Garros 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 16-14 after six hours and 33 minutes. A mere sprint in comparison to Isner and Mahut’s marathon.
The mammoth final set, which has already lasted seven hours, was too much for the electronic scoreboard on Court 18, which gave up as the set began its 100th game and the players received a standing ovation.
Court 18 can hold only 782 people and those lucky enough to have a seat could not afford to leave it as tickets are not allocated on outside courts.
Spectators strained to catch a glimpse of the match from the roof terrace and grass banks above, hundreds more peered through the green grille at the eastern perimeter of the court while over £10million was traded on the outcome of the match on Betfair.
The first-round clash actually began on Tuesday evening, but was stopped after two hours 54 minutes at two sets all because of the light.
It resumed on Wednesday afternoon on a day when temperatures topped 27 Celsius at the All England Club. No wonder both players’ all-white attire was visibly sodden with sweat.
Time for a break: Nicolas Mahut stood up well to John Isner's fearsome serve throughoutChair umpire Mohamed Lahyani called out the score so often that he almost lost his voice at 39-38 in Isner’s favour. But, with Hawk-Eye not in use, the official was still overruling line calls late into the deciding set.
Both men have easily surpassed the record for the number of aces in a match already, with 6ft 9in powerhouse Isner delivering 98 and Mahut 94. Croat Ivo Karlovic was the previous holder after serving 51 in a defeat by Italian Daniele Bracciali in 2005.
Remarkably, marathon man Mahut had already played three qualifying matches to reach the first round. The Frenchman’s progress included a straight-sets win over Canada’s Frank Dancevic, a 24-22 final-set victory over Britain’s Alex Bogdanovic and a five-setter against Austrian Stefan Koubek.
The 28-year-old had played 130 games before he even hit a ball against Isner.
The American had two match points on Mahut’s serve at 33-32 but, as the fifth set dragged on — and on — Isner looked the more tired of the two. The 25-year-old looked almost delirious as he waited to return serve and chomped on bananas during the breaks.
Looking for answers: By the end of the day Isner was a shadow of the man that had taken to court some 10 hours of playing time earlierYet Mahut found the strength to hit a ferocious forehand winner down the line and perform an athletic dive in the 105th game.
The world No 149 only had one break point on Isner’s serve in the entire match (tiebreaks aside). He converted that to win the second set and reached deuce on numerous occasions in the deciding set, serving to stay in the match no fewer than 59 times.
But, despite looking the more sprightly of the two, it was Mahut who asked for the match to be stopped at 59-59 at 9.10pm.
The eventual winner on Thursday will have little rest before his second-round game against Thiemo de Bakker on Thursday evening, again on Court 18.
The Dutchman beat Santiago Giraldo in another epic, winning 16-14 in the final set in four hours and six minutes over two days. He also played doubles with compatriot Robin Haas on Wednesday night.
Isner, seeded for the first time — at 23 — was also due to play a first-round doubles with fellow American Sam Querrey on Court 10 on Wednesday.
The organising committee postponed the match, against Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer, at 7pm.
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