He came out on the winning side of the longest pro tennis match in history, at Wimbledon in 2010.

Before this week, no Chinese man had ever reached a tour-level final in the professional era or defeated a top 10 opponent.

Isner's 500 career tie-break victories put him 34 ahead of Swiss great Roger Federer on the Open Era list, with Pete Sampras (328) third.

Marin Cilic dumps a struggling Novak Djokovic out of the Paris Masters quarter-finals to pave the way for Andy Murray to become the new world number one.

The sixth day of the French Open was in full flow even as its greatest champion Rafael Nadal, who has only lost twice at Roland Garros since 2005, exited with injury.