The two players were locked at 41-41 in the fifth set of their first-round match, halted after the fourth set on Tuesday, having been in combat for nearly eight hours on Court 18 with no end in sight.

Neither player had dropped serve in the fifth set, which alone was approaching five hours, although Mahut had saved match points when serving at 32-33.

The previous record of six hours 33 minutes was set when Fabrice Santoro beat Arnaud Clement at the French Open in 2004.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Miles Evans. To query or comment on this story email [email protected])