Isner wins 499th tiebreaker, reaches Dallas Open quarters

DALLAS (AP) — John Isner extended his record by winning his 499th career tiebreaker, advancing to the quarterfinals of his hometown Dallas Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory over Daniel Altmaier on Thursday.

Isner won the final seven points after falling behind 1-0 in the tiebreaker, getting two of his 18 aces. The fifth-seeded American reached the semifinals of the inaugural Dallas event last year.

Another 2022 semifinalist, top-seeded American Taylor Fritz, joined Isner in the quarters with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over wild-card entry Jack Sock of the United States.

Isner got the only break of his match for a 4-2 lead in the first set, then closed out the set at love on his serve.

The second-round victory came after Isner won both tiebreakers in a straight-sets victory over Chun-Hsin Tseng. The big-serving Isner won the final six points of the second tiebreaker against Tseng. Roger Federer is second in career tiebreaker victories with 466.

Isner will face Emilio Gomez, who rallied to oust fourth-seeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Fritz’s quarterfinal opponent is seventh-seeded American Marcos Giron, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Germany’s Oscar Otte.

No. 8 seed Adrian Mannarino of Italy advanced to the quarters with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over Australia’s Jordan Thompson.

Mannarino will face China’s Yibing Wu, who beat third-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (1), 6-4.

Isner was up 3-1 in the tiebreaker when Altmaier lost a second consecutive point on his serve by getting to a volley from Isner but sending it wide, the German slamming his racket in frustration.

After an ace and a volley winner from Isner, Altmaier was wide on a drop shot on match point.

“I played a great tiebreaker just now to win the match, and I played a great tiebreaker my first-round win as well,” said Isner, whose home is a few blocks from the indoor venue on the SMU campus.

Fritz, who had a bye in the first round, won the final two points of a tight first-set tiebreaker, got the only break of the match to start the second set and advanced on his third match point. Fritz, ranked eighth, beating Sock in this event for the second consecutive year.

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