John Isner defeats Olivier Rochus to clinch season’s first title – Hall of Fame Championships 2011
World number 36, John Isner of the United States, rallied past Olivier Rochus of Belgium in the final showdown to bag the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships title on Sunday afternoon.
Being played at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, the top seed Isner took one hour and forty three minutes of play to take down the sixth seeded Belgian in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6(6),
to clinch the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 title.
The towering American exhibited his magnificent tennis skills yet another time to become the first top seed player to win the Newport title in 35 years. Isner made his powerful serve his primary weapon of destruction in the contest,
firing 22 thudding aces and securing 38 out of 42 first serve points in the game to come out as the winner.
“It’s the perfect start to the summer and I really feel like my best surface is the hard courts in the U.S. so I’m going to have a lot of confidence from this,” told Isner after winning the contest.
The Belgian had a decent start to the opener, holding serve in his opening three games but botched to collect sufficient points to get the edge over his ballistic opponent. Isner’s 59 per cent serve earned him 15 out of 17 first
serve points in the opening set, along with 10 cracking aces to bestow some un-fought points. He converted one out of five break opportunities to race past Rochus to 6-3, winning the first set to lead 1-0 in the contest.
Rochus uplifted his game in the following set, bagging 20 out of 26 first serve points and successfully defending the five break points he faced in the second set. Isner banged in 12 more aces and won 92 per cent first serve points
drag the set in to a tie breaker round. The decider also went on neck-to-neck, with Rochus toiling extremely hard to survive in the competition but Isner proved a bit too aggressive for him to contain. The American sealed victory at 7-6(6) to win the Campbell’s
Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, to win his first singles title in the running ATP season.
Isner played four finals during last year and won his first ever championship title at Auckland. His victory at Newport has lifted his world rankings from number 46 to his current ranking of 36.
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