John Isner topples Lleyton Hewitt to capture the title – Hall of Fame Tennis Championships 2012
Top seed, John Isner of USA, succeeded in defending his Newport title by beating Australia’s former world number one player, Lleyton Hewitt, in straight sets 7-6(1), 6-4 in the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships final
on Sunday. Isner completed the win in an hour and 32 minutes, capturing his first title of this season.
Before this, the American had lost a couple of finals in this season at the BNP Paribas Open and US Men’s Clay Court Championship. This was Isner’s fourth career title from 11 final appearances.
Coming back to the recent match, Isner and Hewitt served remarkably well in the first set, as they did not lose it till the end, levelling the score at 6-6 and taking it to a tie-breaker. However, the American contestant played
almost error free after that, allowing Hewitt to claim only one point and grabbing it 7-6(1).
Isner and Hewitt started the second set by holding their opening serves to square off the score at 1-1. The American player struck in the third game and consolidated on it to go up 3-1. Isner did not allow the 2002 Wimbledon champion
to make a comeback, maintaining his lead till the end to capture it 6-4.
The 11th ranked, Isner, relied on his powerful serves to clinch most of the points, bombarding a total of 16 aces and winning 38 of the 48 first deliveries. The American number one saved the only break point he faced
and converted one of the three he received in the match.
During the post match press conference, Isner said, “It feels very good. It’s never easy coming to a tournament where in a previous year you won it. There’s a lot of pressure on you. You don’t do well, your ranking’s going to drop…
I did well, I defended those points and I kept my ranking where it’s at. More importantly than that, I gained a lot of confidence from this week just as I did last year.”
About his brilliant performance in the first set’s tie-breaker, he added, “I’m always very confident going into a tie-break. I kept my head this whole week very well. I honestly could’ve lost in the first round, I was down break
points in the third set against a really big server.”
This was Hewitt’s first loss in his eighth final on grass courts, failing to win his 29th singles title.
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