Reilly Opelka, John Isner combine to set aces record in New York Open semifinal
Reilly Opelka serves to John Isner in a semifinal match during the New York Open tennis tournament at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Reilly Opelka and John Isner set a record for combined aces in a best-of-three set match in their New York Open semifinal on Saturday night.
Opelka, who won, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (14), 7-6 (4), served 43 aces. Isner, the tournament’s top seed, served 38 for a total of 81.
The previous record had been set in January in Brisbane, Australia, when Nick Kyrgios (44) and Ryan Harrison (27) totaled 71. Statistics have been tracked by the ATP Tour since 1991.
Astoundingly, Opelka and Isner only had one double fault each. Isner’s first-serve percentage was 88 percent after serving a career-best 92 percent against Jordan Thompson in his previous match.
Opelka has beaten Isner twice in a month after ousting him from the first round of the Australian Open in four sets. All the sets in each of the two match went to tiebreaks and Isner had match points in a tiebreaker in each of them.
