John Isner fired a Queen’s Club record 43 aces in a 3-6, 7-6(16), 7-6(7) loss to Gilles Muller in their second-round match Thursday at the Aegon Championships. Muller held the previous main draw record, hitting 37 last year in a three-set, first-round win over Mikhail Youzhny.

The 43 aces was the second-most in a best-of-three sets match since the ATP began keeping match statistics in 1991. Last year in the Halle quarter-finals, Ivo Karlovic hit 45 aces in a three-sets win over Tomas Berdych.

Isner and Muller’s combined 69 aces during the match was the most in an ATP World Tour best-of-three match (since 1991). The previous most was 65 aces last year in the Queen’s Club second round with Isner (36) and Feliciano Lopez (29).

Muller, a finalist last week at the Ricoh Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Mahut), saved 10 match points – six in the second set, four in the third set. Isner had two match points on his serve at 13-12 in the second set tie-break and at 6-5 in third set TB.

The 10 match points saved was the most on the ATP World Tour since 2004, when Rainer Schuettler fought off the same number in a 3-6, 7-6(13), 6-0 win over Andreas Seppi in the Kitzbuhel second round.

The 18-16 tie-break was the longest at the Queen’s Club since the semi-finals in 1997 when Goran Ivanisevic defeated Greg Rusedski 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(18). It was the longest tie-break on the ATP World Tour this season. There was an 18-16 tie-break in a Davis Cup tie in March, when Mirza Basic came back to defeat Malek Jaziri 5-7, 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(16), 6-4.

Four-time champion Andy Murray booked his spot in the Aegon Championships quarter-finals on Thursday by beating Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-4 in 84 minutes. It was the 18th all-British match contested at The Queen’s Club since 1977. Murray is now 27-5 lifetime at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament.

Murray will next play Kyle Edmund, who reached his second ATP World Tour quarter-final without hitting a ball when his opponent, Paul-Henri Mathieu, withdrew prior to their match due to a wrist injury. Edmund, who is part of the ATP’s Next Generation, also reached the last eight at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open (l. to Berdych) in January.

Gilles Muller saved 10 match points to beat seventh seed John Isner 6-3, 6-7(16), 7-6(7), in a match often contested in light drizzle, over two hours and 25 minutes. Isner struck 43 aces, won 86 per cent of his first service points and saved all five break points he faced. Muller hit 26 aces, winning 79 per cent of his first serves.

The second-set tie-break featured the longest singles main draw tie-break at The Queen’s Club since Goran Ivanisevic beat Greg Rusedski 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(18) in the 1997 semi-finals. The longest tie-break since 1997 had been James Ward beating Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-7(14), 6-4 in the 2011 quarter-finals.

Rain delayed the start of play on outside courts at The Queen’s Club by 30 minutes. Murray began his match against Bedene 70 minutes later than scheduled.

Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan moved into the semi-finals of the Gerry Weber Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Tomas Berdych and Marcel Granollers on Halle on Wednesday. The American twins next will face Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram or another set of brothers, Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev of Germany.

Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-0, 7-6(5) win against lucky losers Santiago Gonzalez and Scott Lipsky.

Seeded Teams Cruise At The Queen’s Club

Top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut breezed past Dominic Inglot/Daniel Nestor 6-3, 6-3 in 50 minutes in the first round of the Aegon Championships on Wednesday. The Frenchman saved three break points and won 88 per cent of first serve points. They improved to 20-4 on the year.

Second seeds Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares and third seeds Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau also won their first-round matches. Murray/Soares beat Americans Steve Johnson/Nicholas Monroe 7-6(2), 6-3, while Rojer/Tecau edged Canadians Vasek Pospisil/Milos Raonic 7-6(7), 7-6(3) in a match that featured no breaks of serve.

Wild cards Jonathan Erlich/Colin Fleming overcame a 0-6 first set to win 0-6, 6-2, 10/6 against Brits Aljaz Bedene and Kyle Edmund. They will face Rojer/Tecau in the quarter-finals.

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Aegon Championships – London, Great Britain

Andy Murray got a visit from David Beckham at The Queen’s Club. Beckham’s son Romeo is a huge tennis fan and had a hit with the Scot. Watch Video

Milos Raonic soaked in some British history at a famous landmark ahead of the tournament. Watch Video 

John Isner, Kyle Edmund, Marcelo Melo, Rohan Bopanna, James Ward and Marcin Matkowski gave heir time for the Children in Need charity pro-am.

Nick Kyrgios spent time with future British tennis stars at the Tennis for Kids clinic. Watch Video 

Gilles Simon, Roberto Bautista Agut and Edmund visited the Moet Chandon suite, Steve Johnson stopped by the Aegon, BNP and Haagen Dazs suites and Raonic made an appearance for sponsors Aegon and Ricoh.

Gerry Weber Open – Halle, Germany           

Home favourite Dustin Brown visited Children’s Hospital Bethel, just outside of Halle, to present a cheque of 15,000 on behalf of the Gerry Weber Open. Brown met hospital staff and made the presentation in the Roger Federer Kitchen, which was financed by the tournament, before making private visits to two young children being treated in the hospital. View Photo

The Gerry Weber Open has supported the hospital since 2005, with Federer, Tommy Haas and Alexander Waske all visiting in the past.

“It really was very interesting,” said Brown. “I’m always keen to give back and the tournament has shown a lot of confidence in me over the past few years. I asked about the kids because at first I thought it was just a cancer station and I was shocked when I saw a five-week-old kid, but then they said it’s also for babies that are born too early or with viral infections. That’s obviously not great, but it soothed me a little bit, because I felt really bad. It’s great from the Webers to give back in the region.” 

Daylong ambassador Philipp Kohlschreiber attended an autograph session and their booth on site. The sunscreen brand has been handing out sample products and doing giveaways at the tournament all week long. View Photo