WIMBLEDON, England — It became a tennis match unwilling to end.

At 9:09 p.m. Wednesday, the slugfest still was not finished but had shattered history. Seven hours, 6 minutes and 118 games into the fifth set of a match that began a day earlier, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut would not give in.

Isner, a lanky Georgian who loves college football, and Mahut, a Frenchman with the savoir faire to wear chunky jewelry around his neck, broke the record for longest match ever — a match that is already in the books with the most games (163) and aces (193).

The longest match (10 hours and counting) and set in tennis history closed down for the night. But only for the night.

The scoreboard told the story: 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 59-59, a story looking for an end on it's third day.

By the time you read this, the match might at last have a winner. Then again, they still might be slogging it out.

Two World Cup soccer matches had started and ended, and Isner and Mahut played on.

Andy Roddick and Venus Williams began and ended their second-round matches, and Isner and Mahut played on.

Then, as the last light fell away, play was suspended, Mahut telling the referee it was time. Isner shook his head, wanting to play on.

"Nothing like this will ever happen again," Isner said to a BBC on-court announcer. "He's serving fantastic, I'm serving fantastic. We both couldn't agree to play, so they canceled."

Mahut was ready to call it a day.

"Everybody wants to see the end," he said, "but come back tomorrow. We played for too long."

This match began Tuesday, but by the time Isner won the fourth-set tiebreaker, darkness had taken and play was suspended. It had been hardly notable — Isner is seeded 23rd, and Mahut, ranked 148th in the world, had to win three qualifying matches just to get into the main draw.

Before Wednesday's end, Isner's 98 aces and Mahut's 95 each shattered the record of 78.

The previous longest match — a 2004 French Open battle between Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement that lasted 6 hours, 33 minutes — was on the languid French red clay.

This tennis was less complicated. It was two men smashing aces and moving on and on and on.

Defending champion Roger Federer twice postponed his post-victory news conference so he could watch history.

"This is absolutely amazing," he said. "In a way, I wish I was them."

dpucin@tribune.com