The Match That Wouldn’t End: John Isner Finally Defeats Nicolas Mahut In Epic Fifth-Set Wimbledon Marathon, 70-68

Mahut made the biggest move of the day thus far in the 137th game of the set, hitting a huge inside-out forehand to go up 0-30.

But predictably, Isner cleared the game to 30 win four unreturnable serves, quickly reversing the swing of momentum in a way more meaningful than anyone could have realized at the time.

After he held easily yet again, an Isner backhand passing shot bounced off the netcord and over Mahut’s racquet to give Isner a look at 0-15. But Isner couldn’t win another point, and so we’re tied again, at 68-68.

Isner held easily to 15 to gain his 62nd lead of this set.

Mahut is getting more and more aggravated with the noise being caused by the legions of photographers on court, but he too held routinely.

A long rally on the first point, but three big serves on the next three points help Mahut hold to love.

Five dozen apiece.

Isner opened the game at 59-59 with a double fault, and his second serve on the next point barely hit the back of the line.

Two unreturned serves got Isner to 40-15, but two forehand errors from Isner leveled the game at deuce.

John Isner and his coach Craig Boynton decided to wait until shortly before the resumption of his match to warm-up, and so they are just now practicing at Aorangi Park, the practice facilities adjacent to the All-England Club.

Isner looks understandably stiff and sore, but also fairly relaxed. It will be interesting to see how that demeanor changes when play gets underway in 40 minutes.

Fans who staked out seating at Court 18 so they could see the conclusion of the historic first round match between Nicolas Mahut were treated to some pretty lopsided tennis in the meantime.

The two Ladies’ Singles matches preceding the resumption of Isner-Mahut lasted a total of 28 games, less than a quarter of the total games played in yesterday’s marathon fifth set.

Reports from the All-England Club are that the two titans in yesterday’s marathon are finally feeling the effects of their superhuman efforts from their record-setting fifth-set.

Mahut, who showed almost no signs of fatigue whatsoever during play, apparently looks even worse than Isner today. According to ESPN’s Pam Shriver, Mahut was only able to shuffle slowly around the grounds after his practice this morning.

As the video says, to be continued…

Isner came out of the bathroom break the much fresher of the two, and reeled off three straight points on his serve, including one that finished with Mahut diving to the center of the court. Isner seems to have lightened up some, laughing and smiling with the crowd.

The new looseness is paying off, as Isner forces deuce. At deuce, Mahut pushes his second serve just long to give Isner his fourth match point, and his first in several hours.

Mahut serving with new balls at 57-58 (how close could they be to running out of balls all together?), and they seem to be flying. Isner rocketed a shot past Mahut for 0-15, and then a forehand volley error sprung off Mahut’s strings to give Isner 30-30 and a chance to be two points from the match.

But as it has all day long, clutch serving prevailed, and Mahut quickly won the game and leveled the set at 58-58.

The players are now finally taking a much deserved bathroom break.

The Wimbledon men’s draw’s top seed, Roger Federer, had another tough match Wednesday in his second round match against qualifier Ilija Bozoljac. Federer won in four sets with a score of 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Federer, who battled back from two sets down in his first round match, had trouble finishing against the Serbian, converting only three of his 13 break point chances. Bozoljac didn’t have a break on the day. Federer won the last set in tiebreak fashion by taking the final three points of the match after being down 5-4 in the tiebreaker. Bozoljac, ranked No. 152 in the world, is the fourth-ranked Serbian man.

Server’s making it look effortless, when it has to be anything but.

Isner often doubled over now between points. This can’t be easy on anybody, much less someone hauling a 6’9” frame throughout.

Two more easy holds brings the score to 56-56.

Mahut especially seems unfazed by this duration, still showing the creativity to chip and charge and finish points with soft touch at net.

I know adrenaline is an incredible thing, but how neither has shown even the slightest signs of cramping is beyond me.

Nine hours, thirty-three minutes.

The service games are getting closer and closer, with more and more impressive shot-making from the returner, but it just hasn’t been enough.

Isner hit a remarkable running forehand to climb to 15-15 on Mahut’s serve, but Mahut responded right away with the shutdown serving he’s been showing all day to secure the hold.

Both players seem to be getting a second wind, which is absurd considering how long they’ve been dueling here. Mahut threw himself and his racket in an attempt to keep alive the second point of the game. Fun to watch.

If you wanted to upload this match onto YouTube, you would have to break it up into about FIFTY-FIVE different videos so far. And we’re not done yet.

What is there left to say?

But, in the shorter run, he’s going to have to figure out how to get out of bed tomorrow morning.

Nicolas Mahut won his first round match in qualifying 24-22 in the third set. He came back from two sets down in the final round of qualies to make it into this main draw match.

In case you had any lingering doubts still, these are two clutch human beings out there right now.

John Isner and Nicolas Mahut have each won three dozen games in this final set. That’s enough to have won a normal set six times each.

And the quality of play is only getting better as they march on.

John Isner and Nicolas Mahut are now at 22-22 in the fifth.

The beat goes on.

Big servers No. 23 John Isner and Nicolas Mahut are in win-by-two mode now in their first round match, tied at 6-6 in the fifth set of a match that began late Tuesday but was postponed after the fourth set due to darkness.

Isner has had his fair share of looks at breaking the Mahut serve, but Mahut has only had one break point during this entire match. He did convert on that one point, however, so he could definitely be considered the more opportunistic of the two thus far.

After not a glimmer through Llodra’s first nine service games, Andy Roddick quickly capitalized on a shaky Llodra service effort in the tenth, breaking the serve-and-volleying Frenchman at love to win the second set 6-4 and even the match.

It will be very interesting to see how Llodra responds to a costly lapse like that at the start of the third frame.

No. 8 Kim Clijsters is into the third round of Wimbledon for the first time since 2006 with a routine 6-3, 6-2 win over Croatian Karolina Sprem.

Sprem is most famous for beating Venus Williams in the second round of Wimbledon 2004, helped by a phantom point in the second set tiebreak in an incident often referred to as the “Sprem Donation.”