Wu Yibing triumphed in an extraordinary final against local hero John Isner at the Dallas Open to become China's first winner of a singles title at ATP tour level in the Open Era.

Isner served 44 aces but still lost, with the 37-year-old going down 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (14-12) in a match that saw neither player break serve at any point, climaxing in a marathon tie-break.

Former world number eight Isner was chasing a 17th singles title, and a first at an indoor tournament, and he saw a match point slide by at 6-5 in the second set.

Wu resisted one of the best serves in tennis history and took the match all the way. The first 22 points of the third-set tie-break went with serve, before Wu hit a super backhand winner to interrupt the sequence. Incredibly, Isner won the next rally to bring it back on serve, but the match then got away from him, and a stray forehand from the American gave Wu the title.

Dallas resident Isner, famed for his 11 hours and five minutes win over Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010, featuring a 70-68 final set, said of this loss: "That kind of stunk for me."

Wu said: "It's a very tough match today. I'm not even moving when he serves. I made history here for my country. I'm very proud of myself."