South African Kevin Anderson reached the final of Wimbledon 2018, his second in a Grand Slam, defeating American John Isner on Friday. In a match that lasted over 6 and a half hours, in five sets (7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (5/7), 6-7 (9/11), 6-4, 26-24).
Both players participated in the second longest match in Wimbledon history. Anderson will face Spanish Rafael Nadal or Serbian Novak Djokovic in the final on Sunday, who are playing in the other semifinal.
At 32 years old, Anderson will play his second Grand Slam final, after losing in September in the US Open against Nadal. He is the first player from his country to reach this level of competition in Wimbledon since 1921 (Brian Norton).
The clock was at 6 hours and 35 minutes when the number 8 player in the world overcame the resistance of the American (10 ATP).
The second longest match in the tournament until now had lasted 6 hours and 9 minutes, over two days, in 2006, in the quarterfinals of the men's doubles between Mark Knowles from the Bahamas and Canadian Daniel Nestor, who defeated Swede Simon Aspelin and Australian Todd Perry 23-21 in the fifth set.
The second longest match in the history of the tournament in the individual category was the one between Croatian Marin Cilic and American Sam Querrey (17-15 in the fifth set) in the third round in 2012.
Isner knows how to deal with long matches, as he won the longest in the history of the English Grand Slam in 2010. It took him 11 hours and 5 minutes, over three days, to defeat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set.
The second semifinal will feature world number one, Spanish Rafa Nadal, against Serbian Novak Djokovic. The retractable roof of the center court allows matches to be extended into the night, but no later than 11:00 PM local time, when there is a curfew to avoid disturbing the residents of the area.
Source: AFP