There has never been a semi-final like this: tennis pros Reilly Opelka and John Isner both wanted to reach the final in Dallas. The decision about the winner brought the longest tie-break that has been on the ATP tour so far.
Reilly Opelka and marathon expert John Isner provided the longest tie-break in Dallas since the start of the ATP Tour (1990). In the semifinals, Opelka prevailed 7:6 (9:7), 7:6 (24:22) against his US compatriot Isner, who was also involved in the longest tennis match in history.
In 2010, service giant Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut fought each other for 11:05 hours on the holy lawn of Wimbledon, the match ended 6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 7 (7: 9), 7: 6 (7: 3), 70:68 for the American. The last set alone lasted 8:11 hours and thus significantly longer than the previous record match.
“I lost track. At some point it was 21:21,” said Opelka, who will meet 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.