Kevin Anderson beat John Isner in a 6-plus hour, record-setting Wimbledon semifinal

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal’s semifinal at Wimbledon had to wait — John Isner and Kevin Anderson weren’t ready to cede Centre Court. The other half of the major’s final four underwent a record-setting marathon in London Friday, battling back and forth through five sets and a 50-game tiebreaker that stretched well past six grueling hours of play before Anderson finally broke through for the win.

Their long-running battle easily ousted the previous record for longest Wimbledon semifinal, surpassing a 4:44 match between Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro

Isner, the ninth-seeded American and Anderson, the eighth-seeded South African, are both power servers who struggle with their returns. That’s led to few break points and more than 100 total aces. Each of the first three sets went to tiebreakers before a 6-4 victory from Anderson in the fourth set up a winner-take-all fifth set.

That’s when the fun began. At the time of publication, the pair was knotted up at 12-12 in the deciding round.

UPDATE: We’re now well past the six hour mark (6:36), and Anderson is finally moving on. A break in the 49th game proved to be the difference.

The win validates Anderson’s recent rise. The 32-year-old had only qualified for one major tournament final in his 15-year career before Friday’s victory — the 2017 U.S. Open. He’s trending upward after stunning Roger Federer in a long-running match that ended with a 13-11 fifth-set decider on Wednesday, marking the first time he’d ever advanced beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Isner has found major success similarly elusive — though he’s used to marathon competitions in London. He’s responsible for the longest match in Wimbledon history; an 11-hour first-round monster against Nicholas Mahut that spanned two days in 2010.

A win Friday would have marked Isner’s first-ever finals appearance at a major event. Instead, he’ll have to regroup after what promises to be a very long nap.