Latest Tennis News – Pierre-Hugues Herbert Turns The Tables Against Stevie Johnson

Written by: Staff on 29th August 2015

Latest Tennis News - Pierre-Hugues Herbert Turns The Tables Against Stevie Johnson |

Pierre-Hugues Herbert was a set and a break down to American Steve Johnson, but stormed back to win 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 in one hour and 42 minutes in Winston-Salem on Friday. The French qualifier, ranked No. 140 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will play for his first ATP World Tour title on Saturday.

Johnson started the match strongly on serve, only dropping three points in five service games. The American, who was also playing for his first career final, broke Herbert’s serve in the opening game of the second set and was a shot away from gaining a commanding advantage at 2-0, double break point on Herbert’s serve. But the 24 year old reversed the local favourite’s momentum, broke back at 2-3 and extended the match by taking the tie-break 7/5.

“In France we call it a ‘diesel start,’” said Herbert. “It’s not always easy to find the rhythm right away. Steve [Johnson] served incredibly in the first set. I could hardly put a ball in the court. Then in the second set I played one amazing return game and the momentum just changed. It gave me confidence. I broke with three return winners so it wasn’t his bad play. After that I told myself that I could win it.”

In the deciding set, it was Herbert who started hot. He raced out to a 3-1 lead, then added an insurance break before serving out the match at love.

“It feels great to be in the final,” said Herbert. “Maybe I’ll try to be better in the first set.”

Going up against the Frenchman in the Winston-Salem final will be South African Kevin Anderson. The second seed defeated Malek Jaziri 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 40 minutes to advance to his third ATP World Tour final of the year (l. in Memphis and Queen’s).

Anderson overcame an early scare, saving three break points in his opening service game. The set then went on serve until Jaziri faltered down 4-5 30/40.

“Credit to him, he came out swinging. It was interesting because the last time I played him, he was a lot more defensive and stood pretty far behind the baseline,” said Anderson. “Today he was much more aggressive so I tried to take care of my serve and get into some of his return games. Then he had that double fault to give me the set.”

Despite the heartbreaking way the first set ended, the World No. 88 continued to fight in the second set, saving three break points in a marathon service game at 0-1. Anderson was undeterred and claimed the break on the next Jaziri service game. A final push from Jaziri saw him save two match points, but the third time was a charm for the big-serving Anderson.

“[Anderson] served very big, with a high percentage today,” said Jaziri. “I was maybe a little bit tired after playing a few matches in a row, but definitely I will take the positive from this.”

Saturday’s final will be Herbert and Anderson’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/winston-salem-2015-friday-singles )

Topics: American Tennis, American tennis news, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Sports, Steve Johnson, Stevie Johnson, Tennis News, Winston-Salem tennis news

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10sBalls_com says:

August 29, 2015 at 6:28 am

Latest #Tennis News – @p2hugz Turns The Tables Against @SJohnson_89 – http://t.co/whrVjQJjfD @ATPWorldTour #stevieJohnson