Tim Henman kept the Centre Court on edge for a further 63 minutes today before finally wrapping up a marathon first round victory over Spaniard Carlos Moya by 6-3 1-6 5-7 6-3 13-11.
Henman had missed four match points in the gloom last night and needed another three before finally clinching victory after a total of four hours and 11 minutes on court.
The match had resumed at 5-5 in the final set and, after a night of rest, neither player looked prepared to concede anything - to the extent that there were no break points in the first 12 games.
Then Henman became the first player to come under real pressure as he went two break points down and dramatically saved them both with aces to squeeze his way through to a 12-11 lead.
Now the demands to stay in the contest swung over to Moya's side of the net and Henman collected the first two points of the 24th game of the set before the Spaniard hit a serve of 130 mph. Then Moya faced an unplayable backhand lob from Henman and although he jumped high and extended his arm he was out of position and went two match points down.
He saved them both with winners and then conceded a third with a loose forehand over the baseline. Finally, sadly, a double fault from Moya ended the match and Henman was through to play another Spaniard, the left hander Feliciano Lopez.
Neither Henman nor Moya could have planned for how long the task would be today but the one certain factor was that they restarted facing the same pressures as they did in the later stages last night.
There was no let-up in the intensity of the match, no lack of ambition, and in the end it came down to a few critical points between two players who could only respect what their opponent was trying to do.
This victory was only Henman's third on the regular tour this year, a record which has seen his ranking plummet. But this latest Wimbledon epic, which has relit the fires of Henmania, may just inspire another great summer adventure for the four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist.
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