John Isner wins his 499th career tiebreak. He reaches the Dallas Open quarterfinals. John Isner extended his record by winning his 499th career tiebreak and reaching the quarterfinals of the Dallas Open in his hometown with a 6-3, 7-6(1) win over Daniel Altmaier. Isner won the last seven points after losing 1-0 in the tiebreak, hitting two of his 18 aces. The fifth-placed American reached the semi-finals of last year’s inaugural event in Dallas.

The other 2022 semi-finalist, American Taylor Fritz, joined Isner in the quarterfinals in a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over wildcard Jack Sock of the United States. John Isner got the only break in their match to lead 4:2 in the first set, then finished the set with a service on serve. The second-round win came after Isner won both tiebreaks in a set win over Chun-Hsin Tseng. Isner’s great serve won the last six points of the second tiebreak against Tseng. Roger Federer is second in career tiebreak wins with 466.

Isner gets along with Emilio Gomez, who beaten fourth-placed Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 2-6 7-6(4) 6-4. Fritz’s opponent in the quarterfinals. He is seventh-placed Marcos Giron of the USA, who defeated Germany’s

Eighth-seeded Adrian Mannarino of Italy advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 7-6(3) win over Jordan Thompson of Australia. Mannarino meets China’s Yibing Wu, who defeated Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 7-6(1), 6-4. Isner led 3-1 in the tiebreak when Altmaier lost a second straight service point when he took a volley from Isner but sent it wide, with the German hitting his racquet in frustration.

 After an ace and volley winner from Isner, Altmaier became wide with a drop shot at match point. “I played a great tiebreak to win the match and I played a great tiebreak in my first-round win, too,” said Isner, who lives at home a few blocks from the hall on the SMU campus. Fritz had a bye in the first round, and won the last two points of a tight tiebreak in the first set, earning the only break of the game. And he started the second set by advancing on his third match point. Fritz, eighth, beat Sock in that event for the second year in a row.

__________________________________________________________________________________