John Isner ousts Andy Roddick in the semi-final – Winston-Salem Open 2011
Fourth seed John Isner of USA reached his third final of the season as he defeated compatriot Andy Roddick, seeded first at the event, in straight sets 7-6(7), 6-4 in the semi-final of the Winston Salem Open at the Wake Forest
University in Winston-Salem, USA on Friday. The American took an hour and 34 minutes to beat Roddick.
Big serving Isner and Roddick served to their high standards, holding their serve throughout the first set to level the score at 6-6, taking it to a tie-break. There was a close contest in the tie-break as both players won their
first fourteen service points to equalise the score at 7-7. However, in the end, it was Isner who managed to grab a breakthrough, claiming a mini-break to go up 8-7 and winning his next service point to seal the tie-break 9-7.
The six feet and nine inches tall delivered three aces and bagged a whopping 21 of the 24 first service points in the first set. On the other hand, Roddick served better, firing five aces and winning an incredible 26 of the 28
points on the first serves in the opening set.
Isner made a solid start in the second set as he broke his countryman in the opening game and held his serve in the next game to grab a 2-0 lead. Roddick bounced back, breaking the American in the sixth game and equalising the
score at 3-3. However, it was Isner who hit the last blow as he broke Roddick in the ninth game and consolidated on it to claim the set 6-4.
The 26-year-old continued to win majority of the points on the first serves, hitting five aces and capturing fourteen of the seventeen first return points in the second set.
Isner said, commenting on the match, "After the first three games of the second set I was able to regroup. I was able to put some returns back in play, play aggressively and next thing you know we’re dead even again."
The American added, "It’s nice to be through to the final. I was just looking forward to coming back home because it had been eight months, since Christmas, that I’d been in the state of North Carolina. Physically I felt pretty
good coming into this event, even though this is my fourth event in a row. I definitely wanted to do well here, it’s such an important event for me.”
Isner will face world number 113 Julien Benneteau of France in the title match.
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