Anderson Outlasts Isner to Reach Wimbledon Final

In one of the best matches you will ever see, South Africa’s Kevin Anderson outlasted American John Isner 7-6(6), 6-7(5), 7-6(9), 6-4, 26-24 in six hours and 36 minutes to book his spot in the Wimbledon final.

Heading into the semifinal, most people thought Isner and Anderson would play a competitive match as both players have similar playing styles, but no one would could have predicted what took place on Friday.

“Playing like that in those conditions was really tough on both of us. At the end you feel like it’s a draw but someone has to win,” said Anderson afterwards. “John is such a great guy and I really feel for him. I don’t know how you could take that, playing so long and coming up short. Congratulations to him on such a great tournament. Semis here is a remarkable achievement and I know he can come stronger very soon.”

Both players would exchange tiebreak wins through the first two sets. And it was Anderson who struck first in the third set, snapping Isner’s streak of consecutive holds at Wimbledon at 110 with a break of serve, but only to be broken right back by Isner. The American would go on to win the tiebreaker 11-9 and take the two-sets-to-one lead.

The eighth-seeded Anderson, a finalist the US Open last year, would secure a late break for 5-4 in the fourth set, and after consolidating it with a hold, the semifinal entered a deciding fifth set, but it was really just the beginning.

The final set would last two hours and 55 minutes. With no fifth-set tiebreakers, both players buckled in as there would still be 50 games to be played. The longer the set went on, the deeper Anderson was able to get into Isner’s service games, and it ultimately came to a head at 24-24.

Anderson secured what was the key break point, closing out the semifinal in the next game to reach the Wimbledon final.

In all, Anderson hit 118 winners to 24 unforced errors, while Isner ripped 129 winners to 59 unforced errors. Anderson fired 49 aces, Isner hit 53.

Anderson awaits the winner of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who were battling in the second semifinal.