American Reilly Opelka, author of 39 aces, won the biggest tiebreak on the ATP Tour since 1990 with a score of 24-22 on Saturday and his fight against John Isner in the Dallas tournament.

This victory, with a score of 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (24/22) between two great servers, came after a series of 26 points scored on their serve by one or the other of the two players . It was in the eighth match for Opelka, the No. 2 of the tournament.

“I lost the track,” Opelka smiled at the legendary tiebreaker. “At one point there were 21 everywhere. I had never seen it, but if it was to happen one day, it was necessary in this match. »

Isner, 36, had just 21 aces, almost half that of Opelka, and like his opponent never had a break point to save. He got ten sets of points in the extended tie break of the second set, but Opelka held on until the end.

The 24-year-old Opelka now has nine tie-breakers from the twelve he played against his eldest and four wins to one because Isner had won their first meeting in 2016 in Atlanta. The No. 26 ATP winner also won the biggest tennis match of all time, an 11-hour marathon spanning three days in 2010 at Wimbledon against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut (70 games against 68 in the fifth set).

Opelka, the 23rd player in the world, will aim for the third title in the circuit on Sunday against the other American, Jenson Brooksby, who beat Marcos Giron in three sets. 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5). “I like to see him play, but I hate playing against him,” he said.

This is the first time since the 2004 San Jose tournament, won by Andy Roddick, that four American players have monopolized places in the semifinals of an ATP tournament.