Brazilian doubles pairing Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa set a staggering new record out on Court 16 as they and opponents Paul Hanley and Kevin Ulyett played out the most games in a fifth set in Wimbledon history - a jaw-dropping and energy-sapping 54 games.
The Brazilians collapsed to the ground and rolled on the floor hugging each other in a football-style celebration on securing victory and afterwards posed proudly alongside the scoreboard, which spelled out their victory by 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 28-26.
And the quartet came very close to two other records. The match, which started on Saturday, featured five hours and 58 minutes of play between the rain breaks, just 11 minutes behind the match last year in which Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor beat Simon Aspelin and Todd Perry.
And the record for Wimbledon's longest set also remains intact. Back in 1968, the days before tie-breaks, there was a 62-game first set played in a doubles match.
So how did Melo and Sa end up on the victorious side of this titanic battle? In the fifty-third game of the fifth set they finally made the crucial breakthrough, taking the service game of Hanley. But, rather dramatically given the circumstances, they were forced to save two break-back points before Melo served an ace which ensured victory.
Sa said after the match: “Physically we are not too bad, but mentally it's tough playing one doubles match over five days. Today in the fifth set we were under severe pressure as we were always serving to stay in the match.”
“With so much pressure in the match it was nice to get it over with finally. From the warm-up we tried to keep the intensity high and keep the intensity going out there.”
During their post-match press conference, Sa and Melo were still unsure whether they had broken any record at The Championships. Upon receiving confirmation that they had, they high-fived each other and Sa said: “28-26. You don’t see that very often. I wouldn’t mind going through that again. As long as we win, it’s OK.”
And he revealed that one of the first people who congratulated them was Andy Roddick, who had just completed his match on Centre Court and raced over to them after seeing their score flash up on the screens in the locker room.
Melo revealed that the match was only the second time in his career that he had played a five-set match and added: "It was a great match, it's fantastic."
Throughout the match the battling Brazilians were supported courtside by their countryman, three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten.
Sa said: “We were lucky to have Gustavo Kuerten here with us. Guga watched the game and gave us some help with the match and also gave us the confidence to believe we can go out there and win. With results like this he might get a full-time coaching job, but we think he will probably be too expensive!”