Tenistas Melo & Soares Make Olympic History at the London Games

Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares still have to win three matches to win the gold medal in men’s doubles tennis at the London Games… But they’ve already made Olympic history.

The 28-year-old and 30-year-old Brazilian tennis players set two Olympic tennis records on Wednesday when they defeated fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, 1-6, 6-4, 24-22, at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Marcelo Melo & Bruno Soares

The second-round match at Wimbledon had the most games – 63 – in a best-of-three-set match in men’s doubles in the Olympics. The previous record was 59 games, set at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Meanwhile, Melo and Soares’ third set, with 46 games, was the longest set in men’s doubles at the Olympics. The previous record was 36 games in a 19-17 final set at the same match in 2008.

The match between the Brazilians and the Czechs was played over two days. It lasted four hours, 21 minutes.

On Tuesday, the longest set in Olympic history – 48 – was played when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France defeated Milos Raonic of Canada 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 in the second round.

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