John Isner makes history as home hopes dominate at the Dallas Open

James Richardson 11 Feb 2023 6:49 AM

John Isner serves

Three of the four semi-finalists at the Dallas Open are American even if there are some surprise names in the bunch.

China’s Wu Yibing is the interloper among the four having secured his place in the semi-finals with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win over experienced Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.

Wu is guaranteed to become the new Chinese men’s No 1 as a result of his run.

He only made his ATP Tour last eight debut this week but he will rise from world no 97 to at least 83rd in the standings update on Monday, but could go even higher if he can get beyond American No 1 Taylor Fritz.

Fritz will rise to seventh in the ATP Rankings regardless of what happens over the weekend, also achieving a new career high.

Meanwhile, J.J. Wolf will also be moving up to a new career-high having come into the week at a new peak and improving his standing in Dallas.

Wolf had to work his way back into his clash with Frances Tiafoe, downing his compatriot 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in Friday’s quarter-finals.

“I usually don’t think about the outcome, so I was just feeding off the energy of the fans and playing every point as hard as I could,” Wolf said after the match.

Wolf admits that he has intentionally slowed his serve down to gain more control and give himself a better chance of winning consistently.

“I’ve just tried to create a little more consistency,” he said of his serve. “The fans might not like it when I’m not putting up 140 [mph] serves, but my coaches like it.”

Wolf’s semi-final might turn out to be a battle of the serves as he faces a prototypical big-serving American in John Isner.

Isner made history by becoming the first man to win 500 ATP tour-level tie-breaks during his 7-6(8), 7-5 win over Ecuador’s Emilio Gómez Estrada.

“I’ve won a lot of tie-breaks in my career, and in the first set I won a big number of them: 500 of them,” Isner said in his on-court interview in Dallas, drawing a roar from the home crowd.

“I’m very glad I didn’t have to win 501.

“It just comes with a lot of experience, being in that situation. I would love to win matches like Novak does, 6-,1 6-0, but it’s just not my style,” he said.

“A lot of times I live by the sword, like I have this week, and a lot of times I die by the sword. I take the good with the bad.

“I think something about being at home is calming my nerves in those big situations,” he added.

“I’m very happy, very lucky to have this tournament here.”

Isner is the truest of home hopes having taken up residence in Dallas after spells in Florida and Georgia and his home state of South Carolina.