With the current suspension of the ATP and WTA Tours, we are opening up our US Open vault to bring you full match videos of classic encounters through the years in New York.
Watch on YouTube: John Isner vs. Milos Raonic, 2018 US Open men's singles fourth round
Just two months before the 2018 US Open began, John Isner and Milos Raonic met in a quarterfinal match at Wimbledon. Isner’s four-set victory at the All England Club sent him to his first career Grand Slam semifinal, and it was an epic. Isner would eventually lose to Kevin Anderson in a five-set match that lasted six hours and 36 minutes. It featured three tiebreaks and a fifth set that required 50 games to complete (26-24).
Isner arrived in Flushing Meadows that year on a roll. Adding more intrigue, his first child was due to be born in a matter of days. He was stretched to five sets in the second round, but the 6-foot-10 American’s booming serve propelled him to a fourth-round match against Raonic, who was coming off a straight-sets victory over 2016 US Open champ Stan Wawrinka in the third round.
Just as Isner is used to dominating on serve, so is Raonic. Which is why this match started off so odd. The 6-foot-5 Canadian broke Isner early in the first set, which he closed out at 6-3. Isner then returned the favor and took the second set, 6-3.
After Isner took the third set and then the first game in the fourth, he was up 40-love and a point away from a commanding 2-0 lead. That’s when Raonic came roaring back to take the set and force a decider.
In the end, with the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A!” Isner prevailed, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. The match took three hours and eight minutes.
Isner, ranked world No. 11 at the time, lost in four sets to No. 3 Juan Martin del Potro in the quarterfinals. Eleven days later, his daughter was born.
The complete match is now available to watch on the US Open YouTube channel. For a coming attraction, view the match highlights below.
