Not since Andy Roddick reached every final of the Men’s Clay Court Championship between 2001 and 2005 has an American made an appearance in consecutive finals in Houston. After a vengeful win against last year’s champion Juan Monaco in the semifinals, John Isner found himself once again vying for the title. But unlike last year, he found himself hoisting up championship trophy and taking the customary jump into the River Oaks Country Club swimming pool.

Today’s win marks the first title on clay for the 6-foot-9 American, who looked to be returning to the form that allowed him to beat world no. 1 Novak Djokovic last year in Indian Wells. His opponent, Nicolas Almagro, is third amongst all active players in the number of clay court titles he possesses. But today, Almagro looked like a newbie out on the court. And although he was able to break Isner to go up 3-1, the Spaniard then went on to win only 6 more points and watched Isner run away with the first set in 30 minutes.

The second set showed a little more fight from Almagro, who lost only one point in his first three service games. He began pushing Isner more, and fought deep into the set but it was in the 11th game that he found himself down 0-40 – giving the American three chances to serve out the match. He came back from the deficit to level the game at deuce, but John proved too good and hit some incredible shots to secure the break. He then served out the match, winning 6-3, 7-5 in 1 hour and 21 minutes.

“I’ve always known I could play well on clay,” Isner said. “This week is a little surprising, as Monday was the first day I hit a ball on clay since September. I knew it was going to be a tough adjustment and that I had to find a way to get through my first match…I felt I played better each and every round. I played well yesterday and even better today.”