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Cape Town - Kevin Anderson kept die-hard South African tennis fans glued to their TVs for a full six hours and 36 minutes in his record-breaking Wimbledon semi-final victory over American John Isner on Friday night.
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Anderson ultimately prevailed 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (5/7), 6-7 (9/11), 6-4, 26-24 to reach his maiden Wimbledon final on Sunday, where he awaits the winner of the curtailed second semi-final between Spanish world No 1 Rafael Nadal, and Serbia's 12th-seed, Novak Djokovic.
With his victory, the eighth-ranked Anderson became the first South African man to reach the singles final at Wimbledon in 97 years.
The Anderson-Isner marathon was the second longest Grand Slam match ever and the longest Grand Slam semi-final of all time.
A number of other impressive stats stood out when all was said and done.
The pair served a combined 102 aces (49 for Anderson, 53 for Isner), while only serving 10 double faults in total (Anderson 4, Isner 6).
Anderson won 52% - or 298 of the total 569 points played. Isner won 27 fewer points (271).
There was no doubting heading into the clash that at 2.03m and 2.08m tall, the serves of Anderson and Isner, respectively, would dominate the match.
And so they did.
Anderson only lost two of his 48 service games, while the 32-year-old South African was able to break his ninth-ranked opponent on four occasions in Isner's 48 services.
