Wu Yibing overcame a fierce bombardment from John Isner to become the first Chinese to win an ATP Tour title at the Dallas Open on Sunday.
The 23-year-old from Hangzhou saved four match points before claiming a 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (14/12) victory in just under three hours to claim his first ATP victory.
Wu, who climbed the world rankings last year from 1,869th in March to 97th in the world, collapsed on the court in joy after his victory.
It came after a thrilling battle with big servant Isner, who had threatened to overwhelm the Chinese player with a barrage of 44 aces during the contest.
Isner’s stunning ace tally was only a short shy of the all-time record for aces in a 45 match on the ATP Tour in three sets set by Ivo Karlovic in 2015.
Isner, 37, had a golden chance to clinch his 17th title after squandering match point in the second set as he led 30-40 and 6-5 on Wu’s serve.
With the court at his mercy, Isner powered a return into the net and Wu survived before leveling the win in the tie-break to set up a decider.
After neither player was able to create a service break in the first two sets, the pattern continued in the third, with the game serving to set up another tiebreaker.
Isner had another match point opportunity after taking a 6/5 lead into the breaker but again couldn’t take advantage of it.
Both players saved match points as the tension mounted, before Wu eventually won his fifth match point at 13-12 in the tiebreaker on Isner’s serve.
Wu did well to keep pace with his backhand return from a wide serve from Isner, and the American fired his forehand high and long to give Wu the win.
The win is another impressive milestone for Wu, who last year became the first Chinese player to reach the third round of the US Open.
Wu’s emergence into the professional ranks follows a successful career as a junior, where he was a semi-finalist at the Australian Open in 2017 before winning the boys’ singles crown at the US Open more late that year.
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