Kevin Anderson defeated John Isner in the second longest Wimbledon match to book a place in the Final on Sunday. He will face either Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic in the finals. The South African won the five set thriller 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 26-24 against the American.
It was a high voltage match that could have gone the other way quite easily. The Wimbledon crowd was thrilled to witness the final set which went on and on before Anderson broke and eventually won the battle by 26-24. The match went on for six hours and 36 minutes, the longest ever singles semi-final at the All England Club.
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It is the third longest Wimbledon match in tennis history, falling short of the 11 hours and five minutes that it took for Isner to beat France’s Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set in their first-round match at Wimbledon in 2010. It was just shorter than a Davis Cup first-round match between Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer and Brazil’s Joao Souza, which went on for six hours and 43 minutes in 2015.
“I don’t know what to say right now. just playing like that in those conditions was tough on both of us. You feel like it is a draw, but someone has to win. John is a great guy and I feel for him. If I was on the opposite side, I don’t know how you take it – getting through something like that is quite different. I have known John for such a long time, he is a great guy. To be honest he has pushed me through my career and had a great one himself. I have pushed myself harder because of the success he has had. I have to say congratulations to John on a great tournament and hopefully he can come back stronger.”,” Kevin Anderson said.
Kevin Anderson becomes the first man from South Africa to feature in a Wimbledon final since Brian Norton in 1921. There were limited celebrations from the South African as both opponents are good friends and it was a hard fought battle between the two tall opponents.