The 23-year-old Wu held four match points before beating 16-seeded American Isner 6-7(4-7) 7-6(7-3) 7-6(14-12). in less than three hours.
Prior to his run to the finals, no Chinese professional had ever reached a tour-level final or beaten a top-10 opponent.
Defeating world No. 8 and No. 1 Taylor Fritz in the semifinals, the Hangzhou native achieved both feats and made her mark in the history books.
And on Monday, he continued to set records, rising to world No. 58, making him the highest-ranked Chinese player in ATP history.
“I made history here for my country and for my home,” Wu said at the award ceremony. “I’m very proud of myself, especially thanks to all the fans and team that came to support me. I couldn’t have done it without any of you.”
The big-serving Isner hit an incredible 44 aces in a match that lasted two hours and 59 minutes.
In the final tiebreak, Wu reeled off 22 points before forcing Isner to hit a forehand long.
“I don’t know how many match points I have, I’m sure it’s a lot,” Isner said. “I swear I thought I won the match a few times…Sports can be brutal.
“He’s a great striker and a very good talent.”
Until this week, Wu, who was sidelined from March 2019 to January 2022 due to injury, had won just six tour-level matches.
In Dallas, he beat a line-up of high-caliber players in Michael Mmoh, Denis Shapovalov, Adrian Mannarino, Fritz and Isner.
