Cav's Place

After Rafael Nadal crashed out in the second round, this year’s Wimbledon was announcing itself as very interesting. And now that we also had the second longest match in the history of the tournament take place yesterday, you can say that another segment of that promise has been delivered as well. As a result, now that today is the traditional day of rest, during which no matches are played, I’ve decided to go through all of those that have been played so far and list all the interesting results.
The first type of matches that I looked for were the surprise losses, by which I mean the matches that saw the defeat of players or couples who, as a result of their positions, were expected to have gone at least two rounds further. Those would be all seeded players or couples who were eliminated in the first round, the top half of the seeds who were eliminated in the second round and, in case of the singles matches, for which the third round has already been played as well, the top quarter of the seeds who were eliminated in said third round. Since the seeded couples don’t play in the first round of the mixed doubles competition, a loss by any of the bottom half of the seeds in their first match didn’t generally count as a surprise, since it was already the second round. There was one exception, however, namely the couple who won the trophy last year, whose loss in said second round is listed as a surprise, even though they’re ranked only 12th out of the 16 seeded couples.
Secondly, I also looked for matches that went into “extra time” in the final set. That means a minimum of 14 games, as 7-5 is still a normal score, which can be found in any set and in any competition. You’ll see these matches ranked according to their total duration, though I’ll admit that I didn’t check whether other games were in fact longer from that point of view. What I meant to do was point out those matches that you won’t be able to find in any “normal” tournament, or even in the US Open, not look specifically for the longest matches of this particular competition.
Thirdly, in case of the men’s matches, I also looked for the other thing that can’t be found in “normal” tournaments, namely comebacks, matches won by the player who lost the first two sets. In case it’s not immediately obvious, I decided to rank those according to the number of games lost by the player who ended up winning over the last three sets, with those who lost the least games being listed first.
You’ll find links to all the match reports as well, just in case you want to check anything out. And yes, even though some matches are listed under more than one category, the link will be provided every time, not just the first time.

I. Men’s singles:

1. Surprise losses:

– Rafael Nadal (2 and last year’s finalist) lost to Lukas Rosol in the second round 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4
– Tomas Berdych (6) lost to Ernests Gulbis in the first round 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4)
– Janko Tipsarevic (8) lost to Mikhail Youzhny (26) in the third round 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-3
– John Isner (11) lost to Alejandro Falla in the first round 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-5
– Gilles Simon (13) lost to Xavier Malisse in the second round 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-5)
– Feliciano Lopez (14) lost to Jarkko Nieminen in the first round 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4
– Bernard Tomic (20) lost to David Goffin in the first round 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4
– Andreas Seppi (23) lost to Denis Istomin in the first round 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 3-6 6-3 8-6
– Marcel Granollers (24) lost to Viktor Troicki in the first round 7-5 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 2-6 8-6
– Stanislas Wawrinka (25) lost to Jurgen Melzer in the first round 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 2-6 6-4 8-6
– Kevin Anderson (32) lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the first round 7-5 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (4-7) 6-3

2. Long matches:

– Marin Cilic (16) defeated Sam Querrey 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 6-7 (3-7) 17-15 in 5h31m.
– Martin Klizan defeated Juan Ignacio Chela 7-5 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 1-6 11-9 in 4h53m.
– Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 10-8 in 4h48m.
– Viktor Troicki defeated Marcel Granollers (24) 7-5 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 2-6 8-6 in 3h40m.
– Malek Jaziri defeated Jurgen Zopp 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 9-7 in 3h31m.
– Jurgen Melzer defeated Stanislas Wawrinka (25) 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 2-6 6-4 8-6 in 3h29m.
– Denis Istomin defeated Andreas Seppi (23) 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 3-6 6-3 8-6 in 3h26m.
– Jerzy Janowicz defeated Ernests Gulbis 2-6 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 9-7 in 3h10m.

3. Comebacks:

– Inigo Cervantes defeated Flavio Cipolla 2-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-2 6-1
– Roger Federer (3) defeated Julien Benneteau (29) 4-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 7-6 (8-6) 6-1
– Florian Mayer (31) defeated Philipp Petzschner 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-2 6-4
– Nicolas Almagro (12) defeated Olivier Rochus 6-7 (4-7) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 6-4
– Malek Jaziri defeated Jurgen Zopp 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 9-7

II. Men’s doubles:

1. Surprise losses:

– Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor (1) lost to Daniele Bracciali and Julian Knowle in the second round 6-4 6-4 6-4
– Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski (3) lost to Johan Brunstrom and Philipp Marx in the first round 6-4 6-2 6-7 (1-7) 7-6 (7-2)
– Alexander Peya and Nenad Zimonjic (6) lost to Chris Guccione and Lleyton Hewitt in the first round 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 7-6 (7-3)
– Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez (9) lost to Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen in the first round 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 7-5
– Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek (11) lost to Dustin Brown and Oliver Marach in the first round 6-2 6-2 1-6 2-6 7-5
– Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins (13) lost to Mikhail Kukushkin and Lukas Rosol in the first round 3-6 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 6-3

2. Long matches:

– Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram defeated Treat Conrad Huey and Dominic Inglot 4-6 6-3 2-6 7-6 (8-6) 9-7 in 3h37m.
– Chris Guccione and Lleyton Hewitt defeated Benjamin Becker and Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-4 5-7 4-6 6-2 9-7 in 3h17m.

3. Comebacks:

– Mikhail Kukushkin and Lukas Rosol defeated Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins (13) 3-6 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 6-3

III. Women’s singles:

1. Surprise losses:

– Samantha Stosur (5) lost to Arantxa Rus in the second round 6-2 0-6 6-4
– Caroline Wozniacki (7) lost to Tamira Paszek in the first round 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-4
– Marion Bartoli (9) lost to Mirjana Lucic in the second round 6-4 6-3
– Na Li (11) lost to Sorana Cirstea in the second round 6-3 6-4
– Dominika Cibulkova (13) lost to Klara Zakopalova in the first round 6-4 6-1
– Flavia Pennetta (16) lost to Camila Giorgi in the first round 6-4 6-3
– Jelena Jankovic (18) lost to Kim Clijsters in the first round 6-2 6-4
– Lucie Safarova (19) lost to Kiki Bertens in the first round 6-3 6-0
– Monica Niculescu (26) lost to Stephanie Foretz Gacon in the first round 6-4 3-6 6-3
– Daniela Hantuchova (27) lost to Jamie Lee Hampton in the first round 6-4 7-6 (7-1)
– Svetlana Kuznetsova (32) lost to Yanina Wickmayer in the first round 6-2 6-3

2. Long matches:

– Christina McHale (28) defeated Johanna Konta 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 10-8 in 3h10m.
– Nadia Petrova (20) defeated Timea Babos 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 9-7 in 3h4m.
– Silvia Soler-Espinosa defeated Edina Gallovits-Hall 4-6 6-4 10-8 in 3h1m.
– Serena Williams (6) defeated Jie Zheng (25) 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 9-7 in 2h28m.
– Yanina Wickmayer defeated Galina Voskoboeva 4-6 6-3 8-6 in 2h27m.
– Sabine Lisicki (15) defeated Bojana Jovanovski 3-6 6-2 8-6 in 2h24m.

IV. Women’s doubles:

1. Surprise losses:

– Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik (3 and last year’s winners) lost to Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone in the second round 6-3 4-6 6-1
– Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (8) lost to Olga Govortsova and Mandy Minella in the second round 7-5 7-5
– Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja (12) lost to Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Alicja Rosolska in the first round 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4
– Gisela Dulko and Paola Suarez (14) lost to Irina Falconi and Chanelle Scheepers in the first round 3-6 6-2 6-4
– Chia-Jung Chuang and Vera Dushevina (16) lost to Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Petra Martic in the first round 6-4 6-4

2. Long matches:

– Stephanie Foretz Gacon and Kristina Mladenovic defeated Jelena Jankovic and Virginie Razzano 6-3 5-7 8-6 in 2h41m.

V. Mixed doubles:

1. Surprise losses:

– Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza (5) lost to Paul Hanley and Alla Kudryavtseva in the second round 6-3 6-1
– Jurgen Melzer and Iveta Benesova (12 and last year’s winners) lost to Dominic Inglot and Laura Robson in the second round 6-3 3-6 6-1

In addition to all of this, I found two more matches that deserved a special mention, both of them from the mixed doubles tournament:
– Kenneth Skupski and Melanie South defeated Eric Butorac and Varvara Lepchenko 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6), in a match that had no breaks whatsoever.
– Treat Conrad Huey and Raquel Kops-Jones won the first set’s tie-break against Bruno Soares and Jarmila Gajdosova 15-13, making this the tightest tie-break of the tournament so far. They then lost the match, however, 6-7 (13-15) 6-4 6-4

For a while, I meant to look for long ones through the boys’ and girls’ matches as well, and also through the qualifying matches, but I think this should be quite enough for now. Besides, there are no details available for the qualifying matches, so I couldn’t have gotten the length or provided any links.