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Reilly Opelka
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George Walker/Icon Sportswire / imago images/Icon SMI
At the ATP tournament in Dallas, Reilly Opelka and John Isner delivered the longest tiebreak since the start of the ATP tour in 1990.
In the semifinals, Opelka prevailed 7:6 (9:7), 7:6 (24:22) against his US compatriot Isner.
After the game, fans wanted to take photos with Opelka at this historic moment.
He described the game, which lasted two hours, as "bizarre".
"I lost track, at some point it was 9:21 p.m.," said Opelka.
“Then it's just a question of the next point.
And then back to the guessing game.
I then have to concentrate on what I'm doing and hopefully guess correctly.«
The record tie-break between Opelka and Isner comprised 46 points.
The second place in the longest tiebreaks in history is shared by several games with 38 points, including the duel between Andy Murray and Philipp Kohlschreiber in Dubai in 2017.
Isner played the longest tennis match in history
It was Opelka's fourth win in a row against Isner, who was also involved in the longest tennis match in history.
In 2010, Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut fought each other for 11:05 hours at Wimbledon.
Isner won 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (7:9), 7:6 (7:3), 70:68.
The last set alone lasted 8:11 hours and thus significantly longer than the previous record match.
Opela now meets Jenson Brooksby in the Dallas final.
The 21-year-old beat Marcos Giron 6: 4, 6: 7 (4: 7), 7: 6 (7: 5) in another US duel.
Opelka, who has won the tournaments in New York 2019 and Delray Beach 2020 so far, is ranked 23rd in the world. His opponent in the final, Brooksby, is ranked 54th, the best place of his career.
cf./sid/AP
