Isner hails Murray after ending his Wimbledon hopes

LONDON: Big-hitting American John Isner paid tribute to Andy Murray after sending the two times champion crashing out of Wimbledon 6-4 7-6(4) 6-7(3) 6-4 with a barrage of booming serves and aces in a second round clash on Wednesday (Jun 29).

While 37-year-old Isner strode closer to Ivo Karlovic's aces record of 13,728 on the ATP Tour, Murray made his earliest exit despite battling back from the brink by winning a third set tiebreak.

Murray had never previously lost to the American in eight meetings and cheers of 'Let's go Andy, let's go' echoed around Centre Court before the roof came out and the hope faded along with the evening light.

"I am most definitely not a better tennis player than Andy Murray, I might have just been a little better than him today," said the 20th seed after the Scot had left the cheering court, waving as he went.

"It was an incredible honour to play him on this court in front of this crowd. At the age I'm at now, I need to relish these moments. This was one of the biggest wins of my career," he added.

"To play as well as I did against one of our greatest players ever was a huge accomplishment for me. He's a massive inspiration to each one of us in the locker room and we are so lucky to still have him around."

Isner broke Murray in the third game of the first set and then held serve under heavy pressure in the next when the Scot, swooping in with backhand passes, had two chances to break straight back.

The towering American made the most of his crushing serve, firing in five aces on his way to taking the set 6-4, while Murray's delivery was more erratic but also packed a notable punch.

Murray was in a deeper hole after losing the second set with number 20 seed Isner showing no let-up in his implacable