A Duel Before Darkness - NYTimes.com WIMBLEDON, England - This was a battle - and it's not over. Flashing a flip-wrist forehand that found radical angles for winners, Sam Querrey of the United States fired back against the 130-mile-an-hour artillery serves of Milos Raonic of Canada on Thursday. Darkness halted the match at 9:06 p.m. London time, with the score tied at a set apiece and 3-all. About 15 minutes earlier, All England Club officials halted play on Centre Court to close the roof and continue the match between Rafael Nadal of Spain and Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic. Aware that an overnight lead could be widened for victory tomorrow, both Querrey and Raonic moved quickly between points, accelerating an already fast-paced match. Raonic had run away with the first-set tiebreaker, jamming serves at top speed. In one two-game stretch, he hit serves of 135, 133, and 139 miles an hour. Querrey hit serves of 131 and 133 miles an hour. Points were short and the servers traded aces, Raonic winning a game with one and Querrey beginning the next with another. This was all-out tennis and the spectators, who numbered perhaps 3,500 in a stadium that seats 11,393, watched in relative calm. In the second set, as shadows moved deeper across Court 1, Querrey worked his way to set point, forcing Raonic to slip a forehand wide. But Raonic closed the gap and moments later got a lucky bounce, the ball clipping the net and falling over. Querrey looked incredulous. Then he lost the next point and the game, squandering the service break he had earned to go up 5-3. The battle resumed. Trailing by 5-6, Querrey built a 40-15 lead on a series of unforced errors by Raonic. But the Canadian slammed a forehand at Querrey's feet and found a weakness. Querrey bent his knees and slapped the ball into the net. Still, he held for 6-all. Querrey skipped ahead in the tiebreak, leading by 3-0 and daring Raonic to bear down. He answered with an ace, a lunging backhand volley winner, and aided by an incautious Querrey forehand, a stunning crosscourt forehand winner to pull to 3-3. Both men were fighting for an advantage in the growing darkness. If Querrey could seize the set, he would head to the locker room with solace and a shot at revival in the morning. If Raonic could bull his way to take the set, he would have a night to relax. Facing set point at 5-6 in the tiebreaker, Querrey raced to the net for a shot that popped over, saving the point with a half volley, then slamming a forehand away to pull even. Raonic fought back and led by 7-6 on Querrey's serve, but couldn't touch a Querrey ace and faced a set point of his own. Raonic's forehand failed him and he sent the ball inches beyond the baseline, giving Querrey the set. Querrey raced to his seat to begin the changeover as if he might cram more winning games to his side of the ledger before darkness - and the chair umpire - would halt the match. At 3-3 in the third set, the chair umpire, Fergus Murphy of Ireland, nodding toward approaching off-court officials, declared the match halted for the night.