American Isner to face Anderson in semifinals

LONDON» John Isner is ready to be associated with something at Wimbledon other than winning a 70-68 fifth set in the longest match in tennis history.

He figures a championship would do the trick — and now he’s only two victories away.

Isner, a 33-year-old American playing in his 41st major tournament, reached his first Grand Slam semifinal by beating Milos Raonic 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-3 at the All England Club on Wednesday.

He had never even been past the third round in 10 previous appearances at Wimbledon, a place he called a “house of horrors” earlier in the tournament because of all of his quick exits and five-set losses. Isner is most famous for that record-breaking victory over Nicolas Mahut in the first round eight years ago, which lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes spread out over three days.

“Of course, everyone is going to remember that match in 2010, and rightfully so. I like to think that, since that match, I’ve done a lot of good stuff on the court performance-wise. But for a lot of people, that’s definitely the lasting image of my career,” said the No. 9-seeded Isner, who is based in Dallas. “I think if I can keep going further here, I can maybe squash that.”

If the 6-foot-10 Isner he keeps serving the way he has been over the past 1½ weeks, that’s a real possibility.