Longest Grand Slam semi-final match

Kevin Anderson (South Africa) and John Isner (USA) served up a strength-sapping Centre-Court epic lasting 6 hr 36 min in the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Championships in London, UK, on 13 July 2018. Anderson eventually prevailed 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 26-24, with the last set alone clocking in at 2 hr 54 min.

Isner is no stranger to long matches at Wimbledon after his 11-hr 5-min encounter with Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010 – the longest match in Grand Slam/pro tennis history, and the only match longer than Anderson-Isner at a Grand Slam tournament. Anderson-Isner outlasted Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Fabrice Santoro’s 6-hr 33-min first-round marathon at the 2004 French Open by 3 min.

Anderson-Isner is the third-longest singles match in pro tennis history, after Isner-Mahut and a 6-hr 43-min match at the 2015 Davis Cup between Leonardo Mayer and Joao Souza.

Eighth seed Anderson spent a total of 23 hr 20 min on court at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships. His seven-game run to the final clocked in at 1 hr 56 min (Round 1 vs. Norbert Gombos), 2 hr 39 min (Round 2 vs. Andreas Seppi), 2 hr 7 min (Round 3 vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber), 3 hr 29 min (Round 4 vs. Gael Monfils), 4 hr 14 min (quarter-final vs. Roger Federer), 6 hr 36 min (semi-final vs. John Isner), 2 hr 19 min (final vs. Novak Djokovic – Djokovic won 6-2, 6-2, 7-6).