In 1969, Pasarell played Pancho Gonzales in what was, until 2010, the longest match in Wimbledon history in terms of the number of games played. The 41-year-old Gonzales finally defeated the 25-year-old 22–24, 1–6, 16–14, 6–3, 11–9 after a battle that lasted 5 hours and 12 minutes. Pasarell was also the first man to beat the reigning champion in the first round at Wimbledon when in 1967 he beat Manuel Santana. In 1968, he narrowly lost to Ken Rosewall in the second round. Rex Bellamy, tennis correspondent of "The Times", started his article the next day by stating that "The first open Wimbledon produced its first great match", and further stated: "Among the men who climb to high places there is a saying that the mountains bring you three things - men, battle, and beauty. The men are true, the battle is the only kind worth fighting, and the beauty in life. Rosewall and Pasarell took us to the mountains yesterday - and the air was like wine." Finally, after covering other matches, the article ends, "Yet the abiding memory will be of Rosewall and Pasarell. If they show films in Valhalla, this is a match the gods will want to see." Pasarell achieved his best result at Wimbledon in 1976, when he lost in the quarterfinals to former world No. 1 Ilie Năstase, after wins against Jun Kamiwazumi, Vijay Amritraj, Adriano Panatta (ranked No. 4 in the world, having won both the Italian and French Opens), and Phil Dent.