Isner Saves 12 Match Points _12! _ but Haas Wins Over and over and over again in his latest hard-to-believe five-setter, John Isner was a single point from losing to 35-year-old Tommy Haas. And over and over and over again, Isner put off defeat, saving a record 12 match points. Twelve! He could not find a way to win, though. And he could not save Haas' 13th match point. Haas became the oldest man to reach the French Open's fourth round since 2007, putting his dozen wasted chances in the fourth set behind him, then coming back from a break down in the last set to beat Isner 7-5, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-7 (10), 10-8 on Saturday. And so the American best known for winning a nothing-comes-close 70-68 fifth set at Wimbledon in 2010 departs with a five-set loss for a fifth consecutive Grand Slam tournament. "These long matches seem to follow me," Isner said, his words drawn out slowly. "In hindsight, probably would have been better to lose in straight sets," Isner said, rubbing his left cheek with his palm, "because I feel terrible right now." He paused and, sounding like a person trying to convince himself, added: "But I'll recover." The match lasted 4 hours, 37 minutes. That's nothing, of course, compared to the 11-plus hours Isner played across three days during his 70-68 victory over Nicolas Mahut in the first round at Wimbledon three years ago. Haas, like everyone else, associates Isner with that marathon to top all marathons. I was definitely hoping it wasn't going to go like in Wimbledon with him and Mahut. I was probably going to wave the white flag before that," the 12th-seeded Haas said. That was not going to happen to me. Isner led 3-0 and 4-1 in the fifth set but let Haas get back into things with a break to 4-3. Ahead 5-4 as Haas served, Isner earned his first - and only - match point. With the roles now reversed, the American failed to take advantage, flubbing a backhand on a 12-stroke exchange. The International Tennis Federation said the most match points saved in any men's match on record were the 11 erased by Adriano Panatta when he wound up defeating Kim Warwick in Rome in 1976. In the 2000 French Open final, Magnus Norman saved 10 match points before losing to Gustavo Kuerten on the 11th. Neither Haas nor the 19th-seeded Isner realized just how many there were Saturday. "I lost track totally," Haas said. Well, here's a recap: Nine match points came in a single game, when Isner served while trailing 6-5. "It kept going to deuce, break point, deuce, break point," Haas said. Three more came in the tiebreaker. Haas, a four-time Grand Slam semifinalist, was up 7-6 when Isner hit an ace. Then, with Haas getting a chance to serve while ahead 8-7, the German double-faulted. And at 9-8, Haas pushed a backhand into the net. Isner eventually converted his third set point, at 11-10, with a service winner, and a wide smile creased his face. The match was more than 3½ hours old. "It's obviously a great match to be a part of, especially at such a big event, against somebody that is very used to those kinds of matches," Haas said. Unfortunately, one has to lose, and I think it would have been more upsetting for me in this case after having many chances in the fourth set there. Haas was only 2 for 22 on break-point chances until converting his 23rd when Isner put a volley into the net. Haas then served out the victory.