Isner loses marathon in Paris as US hopes crushed

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US hopes at the French Open were extinguished on Thursday as marathon man John Isner was once again involved in an epic duel, the fourth longest in Grand Slam history, which this time he lost.

The giant Isner found himself as the last American standing out of eight starters after qualifier Jesse Levine had earlier gone down 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 to Milos Raonic of Canada.

But after what turned out to be, at five hours 41 minutes, the second longest match in French Open history and the fourth longest in Grand Slam history, Isner lost 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 18-16 to French wildcard Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Mathieu finally entered the third round by converting his seventh match point, Isner hitting a forehand wide.

The American hit 41 aces, but had 98 unforced errors.

"I play tennis to live moments like these," said Mathieu. "If I worked so hard to come back, it was to experience moments like this."

Ironically it was against another Frenchman, Nicolas Mahut, that Isner played the longest match in history at Wimbledon in 2010 when he took 11 hours and five minutes, spread over three days, to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/3), 70-68.

The loss means that the American drought in Grand Slam titles moves on to 34 since Andy Roddick won the 2003 US Open.

The last American winner in the French Open was Andre Agassi in 1999 and he was also the last American to reach the quarter-finals here four years later.

The win for 30-year-old Mathieu came after he spent 15 months out of the game with a serious injury to his left knee that required extensive surgery.

He only returned to action early this year and his ranking had fallen so low he needed a wild card to get into the main draw at Roland Garros.