In what may have been the longest match in Wimbledon history, Greg Holmes defeated Todd Witsken in a 26-game fifth set to win a match that began Thursday evening and ended Saturday afternoon.
The match between the two unseeded Americans, which stretched over three days because of rain and darkness, included 5 hours, 28 minutes of play and the score was almost as long as the match - 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 14-12.But there was no time to celebrate for Holmes, the former NCAA champion from the University of Utah, who less than two hours after his victory had to play a third-round match against 16th-seeded Amos Mansdorf. An exhausted Holmes lost in three quick sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in 1:41.
Wimbledon officials and veteran British reporters said they could not remember any match lasting as long as the Holmes-Witsken marathon, but said it was impossible to check because time records were not kept in early years of the tournament.
"It's certainly the longest in the Open era (that began in 1968)," said John Parsons, tennis writer for London's Daily Telegraph, who has been covering Wimbledon for 25 years.
Before the Holmes-Witsken battle, the longest recorded match in Wimbledon history was a 112-game first-round contest between Americans Pancho Gonzales and Charlie Pasarell in 1969 that lasted 5:12.
The second-round Holmes-Witsken match started at 7:39 p.m. Thursday, with Witsken winning the first set 7-5 and the players tied at 3-3 in the second set when darkness halted play.
They resumed at 3:56 p.m. on Friday, with Holmes winning the second set 6-4 and the third set 7-6 in between four rain delays, and Witsken evening the match with a 6-4 victory in the fourth set.
Holmes and Witsken were tied 9-9 in the deciding set when darkness stopped play Friday night and sent the match into its third day.
Holmes, wearing a knee brace because of a first-round injury that nearly forced him to drop out of the tournament, needed 34 minutes to finally wrap up the match in its 71st game Saturday afternoon.
He then caught his breath before heading out to play Mansdorf.
"In the second set my legs just were real tired," Holmes said. "It was just really tough."
Mansdorf said he could tell his opponent was mentally and physically drained after the marathon match.
"He kept looking up at the sky and hoping for rain, I think," Mansdorf said.