John Isner of the U.S., left, smiles at Nicolas Mahut of France as he lies on the court on Wednesday at Wimbledon.

Wimbledon, England ? Even the scoreboard couldn’t keep up.

The electronic sign keeping track courtside as the points passed and the game totals rose went blank while 23rd-seeded John Isner of Tampa, Fla., and qualifier Nicolas Mahut of France played — and played and played — the longest match in tennis history, until action was suspended because of darkness at 59-59 in the fifth set Wednesday night at Wimbledon.

“Nothing like this will ever happen again. Ever,” Isner said in a courtside TV interview.

The first-round match already had been suspended because of fading light Tuesday night after the fourth set.

They have been playing each other for exactly 10 hours — 7 hours, 6 minutes in the fifth set alone, enough to break the full-match record of 6:33, set at the 2004 French Open.

Never before in the history of Wimbledon, which first was contested in 1877, had any match — singles or doubles, men or women — lasted more than 112 games, a mark set in 1969. Isner and Mahut have played more games than that in their fifth set, without a victor, although the American came close: He had four match points but Mahut saved each one.

“He’s serving fantastic. I’m serving fantastic. That’s really all there is to it,” Isner said. “I’d like to see the stats and see what the ace count looks like for both of us.”

Well, here they are: Isner has 98 aces, Mahut 95 — both eclipsing the previous high in a match at any tournament, 78. All the numbers are truly astounding: There has been 881 points, 612 in the fifth set. Isner has compiled 218 winners, Mahut 217. Isner has only 44 unforced errors, Mahut 37.

And this cannot be emphasized enough: They are not finished.

No one won yet.

The match will continue, stretching into a third day.

“He’s just a champ. We’re just fighting like we never did before,” Mahut said. “Someone has to win, so we’ll come back tomorrow and see who is going to win the match.”