Tommy Haas photo by Maria Noble
( June 1, 2013) No. 12 seed Tommy Haas resisted a comeback from 19th seed John Isner to squeak past the American on match point number 13, 7-5, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-7 (10), 10-8 in four hours and 37 minutes. Haas recovered from going down a break in the fifth set to earn the victory.
Isner served for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set. Isner mishit a backhand in a rally and Haas came back to break serve.
At 35, the German Haas is the first man of that age to reach the Roland Garros fourth round since Jonas Bjorkman in 2007.
Despite his age, Haas seemed to be the much fresher of the two combatants, with Isner having played a five-set match on Friday where he came back to win from being down two sets to none.
Isner is no stranger to five-set matches. In addition to having been victorious in the longest match in tennis history back in 2010 when he beat Nicholas Mahut at Wimbledon in 11 hours and five minutes over three days, a year ago at Roland Garros Isner lost 18-16 in fifth set inthe second round to Paul-Henri Mathieu – that match lasted 5 hours, 41 minutes.
Isner is now 5-12 in five set matches. With the loss, no American men are left in the singles draw.
Haas is to face No. 29 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Update to follow..