Isner Sets Queen's Club Aces Record, Muller Saves 10 M.P.

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.