JOHN ISNER’S THREE-YEAR TITLE RUN IN ATLANTA TENNIS COMES TO AN END AGAINST NICK KYRGIOS

Written by: Staff on 7th August 2016

JOHN ISNER'S THREE-YEAR TITLE RUN IN ATLANTA TENNIS COMES TO AN END AGAINST NICK KYRGIOS |

@k1ngkyrg1os beats top seed #Isner 76(3) 76(4) for the @bbttlantaopen title! #ATP #tennis #bbtatlantaopen #Kyrgios – Photo by @atpworldtour via Instagram

By Ricky Dimon

Nick Kyrgios lifted the second ATP winner’s trophy of his career on Sunday afternoon, when he took down John Isner 7-6(3), 7-6(4) in the final of the BB&T Atlanta Open. Kyrgios equaled his big-serving opponent with 18 aces on the way to triumphing after one hour and 46 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, there was not a single service break the entire way–but that almost wasn’t the case. In his opening service game at 0-1 of the first set, Kyrgios fell into a 0-40 hole. But Isner squandered his only real opportunity by failing to put a second-serve backhand return in the court and the Australian powered to a hold from there.

“If I go up 2-0, there’s a good chance that set’s over,” Isner commented. “I think that settled him down…. I keep going back to that second game of the match. He came up with some really good serves. Credit to him; that’s why he’s ranked really high. He’s one of the best servers on tour, I would say.”

As such, the opening set was all but over when Isner donated his first service point of the tiebreaker with an unforced error. Kyrgios added an additional mini-break for 4-0, which was more than enough because he won all five of his service points.

Isner seized another opportunity in the second with a break point at 5-5, but Kyrgios erased it with a service winner. That set the stage for a topsy-turvy ‘breaker, which included six mini-breaks. Isner held a brief lead, but he double-faulted at 3-2 and again on the world No. 18’s second championship point at 4-6.

“I felt like I put myself in position to win that set,” the 6’10” American explained. “I just sort of fell apart…. I didn’t quite come up too clutch there in the second set.

“He played better than I did today. Of course it was very small margins, bit it seems like all week he was motivated and controlled himself pretty well all week. And he did that again today.”

“I knew it was going to be tough from the get-go,” Kyrgios said. “I knew that I had to come up with some special stuff today and I thought I did. In the tiebreaks, I didn’t really miss a ball. It just came down to a couple of points; a couple lucky points here or there. I just did all the right things today. I thought I stayed calm; I just kind of rode it out.”

Kyrgios was making his first appearance at this event and the end result was another title in the wake of what was a dominant showing this February on the indoor hard courts of Marseille.

“In Marseille was playing unbelievable,” the 21-year-old reflected. “I thought I was 10-feet tall and unbeatable. It doesn’t matter who you put in front of me that week, I thought I’d pretty much crush ‘em. This week was completely different. I was battling physically; wasn’t playing great at all at the start of the week. I came probably off my worst career loss last week. I wasn’t in a good space at all, to be honest. I wasn’t expecting a title this week. I guess some things you can’t really explain.”

Isner, on the other hand, is the face of the BB&T Atlanta Open–for him, success at this annual U.S. Open Series tournament is second nature. Even with Sunday’s loss, he is still 24-4 lifetime in Atlanta with three titles and three runner-up finishes. He has never lost prior to the semis in seven appearances.

“It was a pretty encouraging week for me,” the former University of Georgia star concluded. “This is my first final since this tournament last year. So it’s been a while. It’s hard to make [finals]; guys are good out there.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

BB&T Atlanta Open

Atlanta, USA

RESULTS

Singles – Final

[2] N. Kyrgios (AUS) d [1] J. Isner (USA) 76(3) 76(4)

Doubles – Final

A. Molteni (ARG) / H. Zeballos (ARG) d J. Brunstrom (SWE) / A. Siljestrom (SWE) 76(2) 64

KYRGIOS WINS SECOND ATP WORLD TOUR TITLE; ARGENTINES TRIUMPH

– Nick Kyrgios claimed his second ATP World Tour crown, adding to his title on the indoor hard courts of Marseille in February.

– The Aussie stopped John Isner’s 15-match winning streak in Atlanta and ended the American’s quest for a historic four-peat at the hard-court event.

– Projected to rise to a career-high World No. 16 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Kyrgios earned his first win over Isner in three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings.

– Isner was bidding to become the fifth active player to win four consecutive titles at an ATP World Tour event, along with Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori.

– The all-Argentine tandem of Andres Molteni and Horacio Zeballos kicked off their partnership in style, notching their first team title.

– Molteni clinched his first ATP World Tour title in his second final. Zeballos, meanwhile, claimed his fifth career doubles crown and first on hard courts..

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Kyrgios

“I knew it was going to be tough from the get-go. John is still so comfortable on that court. I needed to come up with some special stuff today and it just came down to a couple points here and there. I did all the right things today and stayed calm. I knew I’d have my chance.

“In Marseille, I was unbeatable. This week was completely different. I wasn’t playing well at all at the start of the week. I wasn’t in a good space at all. Some things just fell my way. Today, I found the right balance. I was competing and had some fun.”

Isner

“It was an encouraging week for me. It was my first final since here last year. It’s tough to make a final. The guys are good out there. It’s definitely been an encouraging week. The margins in my matches are pretty small and I just have to fix some things. Of course I wanted to win this. I love the event. But I’m not too discouraged. I know I’m not far away and these close matches will start going my way.”

Molteni

“It’s amazing. I’m very happy. It’s the first week I have played with Horacio. It’s an incredible week.”

Zeballos

“It was a great week in both singles and doubles. It’s one of the best weeks of the year. I’m very happy. I’m hoping it gives me a lot of confidence for the next tournaments.”

Topics: 10sBals.com, Atp World Tour, BB&T Atlanta Open, John Isner, Nick Kyrgios, Sports, Tennis News