Kevin Anderson and John Isner played for six hours and 36 minutes.
Kevin Anderson outlasted John Isner in a record-breaking Wimbledon shootout to reach the final on Friday.
The first South African to move within sight of the sport’s highest summit, Anderson took almost seven hours to survive — a semifinal record — in a match peppered with 102 aces.
The fifth set alone lasted nearly 3 hours as the semifinal became a test of endurance more than skill. Anderson finally earned the must-have, go-ahead service break with the help of a point in which the right-hander tumbled to his backside, scrambled back to his feet and hit a shot lefty.
The expectation was that the first semifinal would be a tight contest filled with tiebreakers and that's precisely what it was. Wimbledon doesn't use tiebreakers in the fifth set for men, or third set for women, so there's nothing to prevent a match from going on and on and on and that's precisely what Isner and Anderson did, often thanks to one ho-hum hold after another.
Here are some the key stats of the historic match:
# Kevin Anderson beat John Isner 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 26-24 in six hours and 36 minutes.
# Isner v/s Anderson match smashed the previous record for the longest semifinal at Wimbledon, when Djokovic needed four hours and 44 minutes to beat Juan Martin del Potro in 2013.
# At 207cm and 202cm respectively, Isner and Anderson shared the tallest Wimbledon semifinal in history.
# Kevin Anderson became the first South African man to reach the Wimbledon final since Brian Norton in 1921.
# John Isner now has the distinction of playing in the two longest men's singles matches in Wimbledon history.
# Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 6-4 3-6 6-7(7) 7-6(3) 70-68 11hrs 5 mins to set the record for longest match ever in 2010. It is the longest tennis match at any venue.
# Isner v/s Andersin is the third-longest match in tennis history. It is behind Isner v/s Mahut and 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.
# There were 102 aces (49 Anderson - 53 Isner) hit in the match. The match saw 247 winners, 82 unforced errors and 562 total points won.
Watch the highlights of Anderson v/s Isner semifinal match :
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Wimbledon 2018")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}