Tsonga edges Raonic in longest Olympic tennis match

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 31: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France celebrates after defeating Milos Raonic of Canada in the second round of Men’s tennis match at the London Olympics.

London, August 1 (IANS/RIA Novosti):

France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Milos Raonic of Canada in the longest tennis match in Olympic history.

The players spent three hours and 57 minutes on the court Tuesday, crushing Fernando Gonzalez and Taylor Dent’s record, set in 2004, by 32 minutes.

The final score was 6-3, 3-6, 25-23.

The epic third set came about after the fifth seed Tsonga broke the first serve of Raonic to take the first set, with the Canadian world No.23 doing the same in the second.

The previous record for the longest Olympic set was beaten by 10 games as Tsonga, 27, secured victory in the 48th game.

Tsonga will face either Spain’s Feliciano Lopez or ninth seed Juan Monaco of Argentina in round three.

Elsewhere, Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko was knocked out by Japan’s Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 4-6, 1-6.

Nishikori, ranked 17 in the world, will encounter either Spain’s David Ferrer or Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia in the next round.