LONDON – John Isner won a 19-17 tiebreaker in the opening set and never faced a break point Thursday en route to beating 62nd-ranked Jarkko Nieminen of Finland to reach Wimbledon's third round for the first time.
Only one men's singles tiebreaker in Wimbledon history had more points than the 36 played by Isner and Nieminen: Bjorn Borg won a 20-18 tiebreaker in 1973.
The ninth-seeded Isner — the last U.S. man in the tournament — hit 32 aces and won 7-6 (17), 7-6 (3), 7-5.
The lone service break came when Isner hit a volley winner to go ahead 6-5 in the third set.
Isner is best known for winning the longest match in tennis history, an 11-hour, 5-minute victory that ended 70-68 in the fifth set at Wimbledon in 2010.
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