Opelka saved 10 set points before finally converting his eighth match point with a backhand passing shot up the line in the forecourt.
“It was bizarre. It’s just next point, kind of back to the guessing game. I’ve got to take care of what I do and hopefully guess right. And I did. I guessed wrong a lot, obviously,” Opelka said. “He was in more points than I was. I really hit some big shots, I stayed tough, I also served extremely well. I was very clutch.”
Twelve consecutive sets in the Opelka-Isner ATP Head2Head rivalry have gone to a tie-break, with Opelka winning nine of them.
“At a certain point it just becomes back and forth, but I also had a set point on my serve,” Isner said. “Couldn’t convert. I probably had an 85 per cent chance to win that point on first serve if you look at the stats, maybe more. And [it] didn’t happen. Then it became the back and forth out there after that point. I actually felt like I was the one getting more returns in play and I just tightened up a bit when I did get returns back in play and got it to neutral.”
Longest Tour-Level Singles Tie-Breaks (since 1990)
Before Saturday evening, the longest tie-break had lasted 38 points. That has happened on seven occasions, most recently in Auckland in 2020, when Leonardo Mayer took a 20/18 tie-break against Marco Cecchinato. The other players who have won tie-breaks by that score are Andy Murray (2017 Dubai), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2007 Australian Open), Jose Acasuso (2006 Toronto), Roger Federer (2004 Tennis Masters Cup) and Goran Ivanisevic (1993 US Open and 1997 Queen’s Club).
Source Tennis – ATP World Tour
