John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, who were locked in battle for 11 hours in the Wimbledon first-round last year, will face each again this year after Friday's draw threw up an extraordinary re-match.
Images from Day 5 at Wimbledon
Wimbledon returned to something resembling normality at 4.48pm on Thursday when American John Isner punched away a backhand winner past Nicolas Mahut to win a match that had left the tournament in suspended animation. Not even Queen Elizabeth's first visit to the All England Club since 1977 or Rafael Nadal's flirtation with danger could overshadow a record-shredding contest that ended 70-68 in Isner's favour in the deciding set after 11 hours and five minutes.
American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut staggered off court as darkness fell on Wednesday after taking a chainsaw to the tennis record books on an unforgettable day at Wimbledon.
Richard Gasquet scraped past French compatriot Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 to reach the second round of the Paris Masters on a good day for the local favourites on Monday.
Fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi overcame a late resistance from Arnaud Clement and Nicolas Mahut to advance to the second round of the men's doubles event of the US Open at Flushing Meadows in New York.
Defending champions Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy have been seeded third at the men's doubles event of the US Open and the Indo-Czech pair will open its campaign against Czech-Slovakia combo of Martin Damm and Filip Polasek.
Exhausted American John Isner, whose epic first-round match broke all tennis records at 11 hours and five minutes, was beaten in just 74 minutes by Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker at Wimbledon on Friday. Isner held serve 69 consecutive times in the final set of his record-breaking three-day match against Nicolas Mahut which ended on Thursday, but lost his first four service games in his second-round match at the All England Club.
The world's longest tennis match finally ended at Wimbledon on Thursday when John Isner claimed the incredulous fifth set of a three-day epic against Nicolas Mahut 70-68 after 11 hours and five minutes on court. Isner won 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68.
American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut took a chainsaw to the tennis record books at Wimbledon on Wednesday when they became embroiled in the longest match ever played.
Top seed Andy Murray quickly found his feet on grass at Queen's Club on Wednesday, posting a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Italy's Andreas Seppi to reach the third round of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.
How sweet it is: Eubanks's climb up the ranks is 'icing on the cake'
The second seed pair of Leander Paes and Daniel Nestor suffered a shock quarter-final defeat against the French pair of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert to crash out of the ATP Topshelf Open in 's-Hertogenbosch.
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy edged past the local pair of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (3), 6-3 to enter the men's doubles quarterfinals at the French Open on Saturday.
World number three Novak Djokovic opened the defence of his Toronto Masters title in impressive style with a 6-4 6-4 win over Canadian Frank Dancevic.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy stormed into men's doubles quarter-finals after edging past Travic Parrott and Philip Polasek in straight sets at Wimbledon on Monday. The ninth seeded Indo-Czech duo beat the American-Slovakian team 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6), 6-4 in two hours and 14 minutes in the third round.
It took 11 hours and five minutes for John Isner to become the biggest story in tennis but his only reward is a good night's sleep, a take-away meal and a second-round match against Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker. After his marathon first-round victory over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut that extended to over three days, the big-serving American has to come back on Friday and do it all again.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Dusan Lajovic 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-2 to give France an unassailable 3-1 lead against Serbia and book their place in the Davis Cup final.
India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles cruised into the second round of US $ 708,000 Pilot Pen tennis tournament on Tuesday with a straight sets win in the opening round in New Haven. The second seeded Indo-Bahamian pair got the better of French duo of Marc Gicquel and Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 14 minutes.
The Indian climbed from 467th to 335th spot in world ranking.
Davis Cup holders Britain edged into a 2-1 lead in Serbia after Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot won Saturday's doubles.
Top seeded pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis suffered their second defeat since joining forces, losing 7-6(5), 3-6, 9-11 to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova, at the Madrid Masters Open on Thursday.
British number one Andy Murray will take on Paul Henri-Mathieu in the second semi-final of the Marseille Open.
Andy Murray overcame second seed Guillermo Canas of Argentina 7-6, 6-4 to reach the Metz Open final.
Already without the likes of Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils for the final against Croatia, Noah decided to leave out Lucas Pouille, the top-ranked player in his squad.
Frenchman Fabrice Santoro won his first ATP event in five years when he beat compatriot Nicolas Mahut in the final.
Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi was also beaten in the quarter-finals, an the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
James Blake joined compatriots Andy Roddick and Robby Ginepri in the last four of the RCA Championships.
From the heady heights of contesting his first ATP final, Nicolas Mahut will have to come back down to earth quickly because he has to try and qualify for Wimbledon.
The American staged a great escape with a dramatic 4-6, 7-,6 7-6 win over France's Nicolas Mahut in the final.
American second seed Roddick is gunning for his fourth trophy at Queen's Club in five years.
Andy Roddick barely put a foot wrong as he darted into the final of the grasscourt championships at Queen's Club with a 6-4 7-5 win over Russian Dmitry Tursunov on Saturday.
They reached the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open on Monday.
World number one Roger Federer suffered a stunning 7-5, 6-2 upset defeat by Argentine Guillermo Canas in the Pacific Life Open second round on Sunday.
The third seeds beat Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko in the second round.
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea saved a match-point before emerging winners, while Sania Mirza and Martin Hingis were also tested en route to the quarter-finals of the ATP/WTA Western and Southern Open, in Cincinnati, on Thursday.
Rafael Nadal continued to roll at the Chennai Open, entering the last eight stage of the tournament even as fifth seed Nicolas Mahut and seventh seed Werner Eschauer were shown the door on Thursday.
Wimbledon will introduce a final set tiebreak starting from next year's Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), organisers said on Friday.
'I need to go back to home,' Nadal said following his 7-5 7-6 defeat by little-known Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances