Opelka Wins Historic Tie-Break To Beat Isner in Dallas

  • Posted: Feb 13, 2022

Opelka Wins Historic Tie-Break To Beat Isner in Dallas

Feb132022

Brooksby saves four match points to edge Giron

Reilly Opelka and John Isner have played their fair share of tie-breaks, but they’ve never been involved in one like this.

In the longest tie-break in a tour-level match since the start of the ATP Tour in 1990, Opelka won a 24-22 marathon to edge his compatriot on Saturday in the Dallas Open semi-finals. On his eighth match point, Opelka’s mini-break ended a run of 26 straight points on serve. Prior to that, he saved 10 set points on his way to a thrilling 7-6(7), 7-6(22) victory.

“I lost track,” Opelka said when asked to describe the tie-break, referring to the unprecedented seven changes of end. “At one point it was 21-all… that’s something I’ve never seen before, but if it was going to happen, it certainly would have been in this match.

“It just shows how clutch he is,” he said of Isner’s effort. “I had some house money being up a set. He didn’t, and he hit some unbelievable spots on his serve down match point.”

Opelka moves on to his fourth tour-level final with the win. The Americans have now played 12 consecutive tie-break sets in their ATP Head2Head series, with Opelka winning their past four meetings to improve to 4-1 in the matchup. There have been no breaks of serve in their past 98 games.

Opelka fired 39 aces in the match, a two-sets record since the stat was first kept in 1991, and not far shy of the record 45 aces in a best-of-three match. He is yet to face a break point in Dallas. Isner tallied 21 aces of his own, and both men won more than 85 per cent of their first-serve points in a match that did not see a break point.

The marathon tie-break was eventful throughout. Early on it produced a stretch of five points that saw four mini-breaks. They again traded mini-breaks from 8-8, as both men came up with backhand passes and Opelka saved a set point on the return. From there, it all went the way of the server until Opelka claimed a historic win with another backhand pass, ending what he called “a second-set breaker that felt like a third and fourth set.”

Opelka will face Jenson Brooksby in the title match after the 21-year-old saved four match points to edge Marcos Giron, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), in the longest Dallas match of the week at just under three hours.

The 2021 ATP Newcomer of the Year is seeking his first ATP Tour title in his second final, while Giron was denied his maiden final appearance. Brooksby was competing in his fourth semi-final in six ATP Tour appearances.

The match initially had the makings of a routine win, as Brooksby hit a screaming forehand pass to secure a break advantage at 3-1 in the second set. The hot shot provoked a roar from the fourth seed, but his momentum stalled soon after. 

From 1-4 down, Giron began to take more chances with his baseline game and got his reward with a break back. The seventh seed continued to force the issue and was able to frustrate Brooksby in a tie-break that featured just three mini-breaks.

“I thought I competed really well,” Brooksby said, assessing the match as a whole, “but I just needed to be more positive with myself, which is something I’m working on.”

Giron rode that momentum into the third but could not convert a break point in a four-deuce second game. Brooksby was back to his steady self as he created a 15/40 opening at 2-all, but was left to rue a missed second-serve return off the backhand as Giron kept his nose in front.

There were no further break chances until the 12th game of the set, when some untimely Brooksby errors gave Giron four match points, all unclaimed. A brilliant Brooksby pass brought up his first game point of the four-deuce game, and he took it to set up a tie-break finale.

After Brooksby sailed a tired-looking forehand slice to fall a mini-break behind at 3-4, he snapped back into gear for an aggressive final flurry, winning four of the match’s final five points to advance.

Asked about his fitness following the nearly three-hour contest, Brooksby gave a positive report: “Pretty good actually. Usually I think I’d be a little more beat up, but at least right now I’m feeling good body-wise.”

The result will likely propel Brooksby into the Top 50; one year ago, he was outside the Top 300.

Brooksby and Opelka have just one ATP Head2Head meeting to date, with Brooksby taking a 6-4, 6-4 win in October in Antwerp, also on indoor hard courts. Looking ahead to a potential matchup with Brooksby, Opelka said the rising star is “one of my favourite players to watch, probably my least favourite player to play.”

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