London: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won a record-breaking Olympic clash against Milos Raonic as the French fifth seed out-lasted the Canadian 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 in the second round on Tuesday.
After the pair split the first two sets on Court One, they became embroiled in a gruelling decider that lasted 179 minutes and wrote their names in the Olympic history books.
The 48-game final set was the longest single set in Olympic history, a record that takes into account all men`s and women`s matches in both singles and doubles.
That last set took the total number of games in the match to 66, which shattered the previous record of 48 for Fernando Gonzalez`s 6-4, 2-6, 16-14 win against Taylor Dent at the 2004 Games in Athens.
In Olympic singles, only the five-set 76-game encounter between Gordon Lowe and Augustos Zerlendis at the 1920 Games in Antwerp has featured more games.
In total, the players spent three hours and 56 minutes on court before Tsonga finally sealed the win with a volley that Raonic couldn`t quite reach despite a despairing lunge.
Tsonga, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in each of the last two years, celebrated with a roar of delight and his trademark jig around the court.
The former Australian Open finalist didn`t celebrate for long however as he needs to recover quickly for his scheduled third round match against Juan Monaco or Feliciano Lopez on Wednesday.
BDST: 1527 HRS, August 1, 2012
Edited by
Chanchal Ghosh, Newsroom Editor
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