Longest match finally ends after six hours

LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) Canada's Daniel Nestor and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas today won the longest match in Wimbledon history when they took six hours nine minutes to win a men's doubles quarter-final.

The third seeds beat Sweden's Simon Aspelin and Todd Perry of Australia 5-7 6-3 6-7 6-3 23-21 in a match that had started yesterday. The final set lasted 193 minutes.

The previous record for a men's doubles was five hours five minutes in 1985, a quarter-final that was completed in a day.

The longest match of all had been a second round men's singles in 1989 between qualifier Greg Holmes and fellow American Todd Witsken which lasted five hours 28 minutes, spread over three days, before Holmes won 14-12 in the fifth set.

REUTERS SHB BD2358