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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Milos Raonic play longest set in Games history

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LONDON — The biggest names weren’t who made headlines at Wimbledon on Tuesday. The most interesting match was held on Court 1 between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and Milos Raonic of Canada. Tied after two sets, they went to the third and played and played and played. It was 48 games before Tsonga broke serve and won the match.

It was the longest set in Olympic history, checking in at three hours. The match lasted 3:57.

Raonic, known for his big serve, committed 74 unforced errors to 60 for Tsonga. The final score, 6-3, 3-6, 25-23.

In other matches, Novak Djokovic eliminated Andy Roddick, 6-2, 6-1, and Serena Williams advanced past Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, 6-1, 6-3. Venus and sister Serena Williams also made it to the doubles quarterfinals with a win over Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki of Germany, 6-2, 7-5. Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond also advanced, beating Agnieszka and Urszula Radwanska, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

Andy Murray of Britain also advanced.

Archery: Khatuna Lorig is the only U.S. competitor remaining on the women’s side of individual play and will shoot in the round of 32 on Wednesday against Sherab Zam of Bhutan. Jennifer Nichols and Miranda Leek were eliminated in the round of 16. On the men’s side, Jacob Wukie won his first match but was ousted in the round of 16 by Baard Nesting of Norway. Two U.S. archers remain on the men’s side. Brady Ellison, top-ranked in the world, and Jake Kiminski have yet to shoot. They both go Wednesday.

Canoe/kayak: The canoe slalom final was closer than most expected, but in the end French legend Tony Estanguet edged Sideris Tasiadis of Germany, who was the last one down the course. Michael Martikan of Slovakia, the defending Olympic champion, was third. The last five golds have been won by either Estanguet or Martikan. No American advanced to the final round.

Diving: All China all the time. Chen Ruolin and Wang Hao won the women’s 10-meter synchronized competition to give China its third gold in three events. The British team was leading after the first round, but everyone knew it wouldn’t stick. Paola Espinosa and Alejandra Orozco of Mexico picked up the silver, and Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion of Canada won the bronze. There was no U.S. team in the event.

Equestrian: All eyes were on Zara Phillips, the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, and she didn’t disappoint as she helped Britain to a second-place finish on the final day of eventing competition. Princes William and Harry were there along with William’s wife, Kate. The medal was presented by Phillips’ mother, Princess Anne. Germany was the winner, with New Zealand getting the bronze. The U.S. finished seventh. In individual competition, Michael Jung of Germany won the gold and Sara Algotsson Ostholt of Sweden took the silver and Sandra Auffarth of Germany got the bronze.

Fencing: The U.S. didn’t do much in the men’s foil competition. Alexander Massialas was eliminated in the round of 16 by Alexey Cheremisinov of Russia, 15-6, as was Race Imboden, who lost to Andrez Baldini of Italy, 15-9. Miles Chamley-Watson was eliminated in the first round by Alaseldin Abouelkassem of Egypt, 15-10. The gold went to Lei Sheng of China, who beat Abouelkassem in the final match, 15-13. The bronze went to Choi Byung-chul of South Korea.

Rowing: Qualifying continued Tuesday, setting up three days of finals. On Wednesday, the U.S. will have Sara Hendershot and Sarah Zelenka in the women’s pairs. In the quadruple sculls, the U.S. is represented by Natalie Dell, Kara Kohler, Megan Kalmoe and Adrienne Martelli. And the big race is the men’s eight in which the U.S. is one of the favorites.

Sailing: It was a mediocre day for the U.S. sailors, highlighted by a race win by Erik Storck and Trevor Moore in the 49er class. It moved them to ninth after four of 15 races. Farrah Hall is stuck in 22nd place after the first day of women’s windsurfing. Bob Willis was 10th in the second men’s windsurfing event, putting him in seventh place. Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi won two straight matches in the round-robin women’s keelboat racing event. Their record is now 4-2. In the Star class, Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih finished eighth and ninth in two races and sit sixth overall in the standings. And Paige Railey is in ninth place after a 12th- and 17th-place finish in women’s singlehanded dinghy races.

john.cherwa@latimes.com

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