The king of Queen's - but Roddick is made to battle all the way

They certainly knew who he was by the end, though, after Mahut played a superb match, only to lose 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 to the world No 5.

Leaping around like a modernday Boris Becker and pitting his French flair against the American's artillery, he left everything on the court and will wonder how he lost.

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In a wonderful display of all-court tennis over 137 minutes, he did not lose his serve once and will rue wasting a match-point in the first tiebreak that would have given him a richly-deserved first ATP Tour title.

The chances are that he may still be thinking about the attempted forehand pass that came his way at 7-6 in the second-set breaker when he wakes up this morning.

That could be dangerous, for today he will probably have to switch arenas from an adoring 7,000- capacity Queen's centre court to the game's ultimate theatre of broken dreams - the Wimbledon qualifying event at Roehampton.

The All England Club handed out main draw wildcards this week to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and prospective British Davis Cup opponent Marin Cilic - who lost here in the third round and quarter-final respectively - but had given them away before Mahut beat Rafael Nadal in the quarters.

Like them, he was just outside the qualifying ranking cut-off when the entry deadline passed, so his only hope of avoiding the qualifiers this morning was to have a couple of late drop-outs from the main draw.

The many spectators who had never heard of Mahut before will have been puzzled as to why the 25-year-old Frenchman is ranked as low as 106 at present.

A clue was offered in his lapses on the really big points, which contrasted to the grit of Roddick in hanging on when it truly mattered.

Mahut is certainly a natural on grass, but then he did win the Wimbledon junior title in 2000 and in his one senior appearance last year got to the third round, hardly surprising when one saw his hugely effective backhand slice and precise volleying.

He could mix old-fashioned serve and volleying with staying back and has more dimensions than Roddick, yet last night it was the American celebrating his fourth Artois title in five years.

As he gently chided his coach Jimmy Connors, it is about the only place they have been together where his titles outnumber those of his mentor. He joins Becker, John McEnroe and Lleyton Hewitt in having won here four times.

Roddick was big enough to admit: 'I was outplayed throughout the match and I feel pretty lucky to be in the winners' circle.'

Roger Federer arrived in London on Saturday to prepare for his Wimbledon defence and if he had any spies at Queen's they will have reported that there still does not appear to be much to fear.

Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Hewitt all went out before the weekend, while Andy Murray continues his fight to be fit. Roddick is battle-hardened but has hardly looked in the kind of form to reverse his 13-1 record against the Swiss.

Roddick, who will relax this week by searching out music gigs in London, is blessed with a similar bloody-minded determination to Connors, as he had already shown when skirting round defeat in the third round against Britain's Alex Bogdanovic.

At 6-7 in the tiebreak against Mahut, he found himself at the net fending back two volleys, the second of which the Frenchman could only drill into the net on his forehand.

Roddick closed out 9-7 and when it really came down to it, in the sudden- death tiebreak, his mental toughness showed through in winning it 7-2.