Dallas Open: Wu wins his and China’s first ATP singles trophy after saving 4 match points against Isner

China’s Yibing Wu made history on Sunday!! He edged out American John Isner, the No 5 seed, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (12) to lift the Dallas Open trophy at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex.

Wu is the first Chinese male player to win an ATP singles title in the Open Era and will be ranked 58th in the world on Monday, the highest ranking achieved by a male tennis player from China in tennis history. “You’re going to be a bright spot for the sport of tennis in the future”, stated his opponent after the final.

Isner had four match points to win the title, one in the second set at 7-6, 6-5, and three others in an epic tie-break, which was eventually won 14-12 by his opponent. Wu himself needed five match points before he finally prevailed.

Wu “proud of himself”

Wu, ranked No 97 at the beginning of the week, defeated four seeds in Dallas. He defeated American Michael Mmoh (6-3, 3-6, 6-3), Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the No 3 seed (7-6 (1), 6-4), Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the No 8 seed (6-3, 6-4) and American Taylor Fritz, the top seed (6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-4) before the final.

“I made history for my country, I’m proud of myself” said Wu after making a joke in his post-match speech : “It was a very tough match, facing 100 aces…” 44 in reality: still a lot in a match without any breaks of serve.

Isner, ranked No 39, won his first matches of the season on the ATP Tour this week. He defeated Chun-Hsin Tseng (7-6 (5), 7-6 (1)), German Daniel Altmaier (6-3, 7-6 (1)), Ecuadorian Emilio Gomez (7-6 (8), 7-5) and No 6 seed J.J. Wolf (3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4)) earlier in the tournament. “This week was incredibly special”, said Isner to the crowd during the ceremony, adding that he might be back in 2024.

“Maybe I’ll be back next year, we’ll see”, added Isner.

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