LONDON, June 23 (UPI) -- John Isner and Nicolas Mahut have played 10 hours and their first-round match at Wimbledon still isn't decided.
Isner and Mahut left the court Wednesday with their match suspended by darkness a second time. Tuesday they split two sets before play was stopped and they were inserted into Wednesday's schedule to finish up.
But with neither player able to get a service break, Isner, seeded 23rd, and Mahut, the No. 148th-rated player in the world, were even at 59-59 -- that's right 118 total games -- in the fifth set before play was again stopped.
They will try to finish Thursday. The current score: 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-3), 59-59.
"Nothing like this will ever happen again, ever," Isner, who has failed to convert on four match point chances, told the BBC in an on-court interview. "He's serving fantastic. I'm serving fantastic. That's all there is to it."
They are serving so well they both surpassed the record for aces in a match. Isner has 98 while Mahut has 95. The record was 78 by Ivo Karlovic in a Davis Cup match he lost.
Mahut has only managed three service break-point chances, getting a break to win the second set and the other two coming in the 101st game Wednesday. Isner rallied with four straight points and they were off to game 102.
The match is 10 hours old and set a record for length by time -- that record was 6 hours, 33 minutes in a 2004 French Open match between Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement. Isner and Mahut beat that in the fifth set alone, which is 7 hours, 6 minutes long before Thursday's play.
The 163 games is also well past the record of 112 games when Pancho Gonzales defeated Charlie Pasarell in a 1969 match at Wimbledon.
