36 MINUTES

Anderson in final after a marathon

KEVIN ANDERSON called for an end to gruelling marathon fifth sets last night after winning a second successive slugfest.

The South African, 32, powered into the men’s final following an exhausting six hour 36 minutes clash with American John Isner.

His 7-6 6-7 6-7 6-4 26-24 victory came just two days after he came from two sets down to defeat champion Roger Federer, also in five sets.

He took the final one then 13-11 in a thriller which lasted four hours and 14 minutes.

Sign

Yesterday’s semi-final was the longest ever at SW19 but Anderson insisted it was time for Wimbledon and two other Grand Slams – the Australian Open and French Open – to join the US Open in bringing in fifth set tie-breaks.

“I hope this is a sign for Grand Slams to change,” he said.

“For us to be out there for that length of time...I really hope we can look at this, because at the end you don’t feel great.

“I have to recover as much as I can for the final now. It will take time to process it but I’m in the final of Wimbledon and that’s a dream come true.

“Just playing like that in those conditions was tough on both of us. You feel like it is a draw but someone has to win.

“John is a great guy and I feel for him. If I was on the opposite side I don’t know how you take it.” Ironically, Isner played in the longest-ever match at Wimbledon in 2010.

His 6-3 3-6 6-7 7-6 70-68 defeat of Nicolas Mahut lasted a staggering 11 hours and five minutes over three days.

Anderson, who was runner-up to Rafa Nadal in last year’s US Open final, is the first South African man to reach the Wimbledon decider since Brian Norton in 1921.

He finally broke 33-year-old Isner in the 49th game of the decider after coming close in a two earlier games then kept his nerve to hold serve, with the fifth set lasting five minutes short of three hours.

The epic led to an 8.10pm start on Centre Court for the other semi-final between Nadal and Novak Djokovic.