Ivo Karlovic's Wimbledon fairytale came to an end on Friday after he was downed by Max Mirnyi, known as "The Beast of Belarus", in their third round battle of the giants on Friday.
Mirnyi won 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4).
Qualifier Karlovic, who at 6ft 10 (2.083 metre) was the tallest player ever to compete at the grasscourt Grand Slam, made tournament history when he knocked out defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the first round on Monday.
On Friday, he traded blows with his 6ft 5 opponent in what started out as an even contest where rallies rarely exceeded three shots.
The crowd huddled at each side of the court must have feared for their lives at times as the two power-hitters fired down aces of over 120 mph, more than one of which threatened either to smash the scoreboard or take somebody's eye out.
With neither player able to make an impact on the other's service game, the first set resulted in the inevitable tiebreak, which Mirnyi took 7-5 thanks to a return winner on the seventh point -- the only point to go against serve.
The second set seemed to be heading in the same direction until Mirnyi dropped the speed of his serve, allowing his 24-year-old opponent to get his racket on a few balls.
Showing a neat touch on some of his passing shots, Karlovic clinched the first break of the match in the 19th game and then saw out the second set.
ROARED BACK
Mirnyi was not to be easily beaten and roared back in the third set, racing out to a 3-0 lead. But Karlovic, who served 128 aces in five matches in qualifying and the tournament proper before this, quickly regrouped and used his firepower to win his remaining service games.
It was too little too late and the Belarussian clinched the set to take a 2-1 lead.
The fourth set resembled the first, with no service breaks and Karlovic missed a chance to level the scores when, leading 6-5, he had a set point at 30-40 on his opponent's serve.
Three thumping serves later Mirnyi took the match into its second tiebreak.
Mirnyi got a mini-break on the first point and broke Karlovic again on the fourth. From there the gentle giant, ranked 203 in the world, had no chance and handed Mirnyi the match when he netted his service return at 7-4.
It was a disappointing result for Grand Slam debutant Karlovic, who lost the match despite sending down 26 aces to Mirnyi's seven and having a 70 to 43 advantage in winners.
Mirnyi will now play Swede Jonas Bjorkman in the fourth round on Monday
