RICKY’S PICK • ATP TENNIS FROM BB&T ATLANTA • JOHN ISNER PLANS ON DEFENDING HIS TITLE

Written by: Staff on 28th July 2018

RICKY'S PICK • ATP TENNIS FROM BB&T ATLANTA • JOHN ISNER PLANS ON DEFENDING HIS TITLE

epa06916666 John Isner of the US in action against Matthew Ebden of Australia during a semifinal round match of the BB&T Atlanta Open men's tennis tournament at Atlantic Station in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 28 July 2018. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER |

John Isner of the US in action against Matthew Ebden of Australia during a semifinal round match of the BB&T Atlanta Open men’s tennis tournament at Atlantic Station in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 28 July 2018. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER

Isner, Harrison battle into second consecutive BB&T Atlanta Open final

By Ricky Dimon

It will be John Isner vs. Ryan Harrison in a second straight BB&T Atlanta Open title match.

Isner and Harrison played their way into the final with respective three-set victories during semifinal action on Saturday. Maintaining his winning ways at his favorite tournament, Isner improved to 30-4 lifetime in Atlanta with a 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-1 defeat of Matthew Ebden. The world No. 9 smacked down 26 aces and benefited from a laughable 15 double-faults from Ebden to get the job done in exactly two hours.

“That’s a pretty good record,” Isner said of his eight Atlanta final appearances, the first seven of which resulted in four titles and three runner-up showings. “You know, it’s not Fed at Wimbledon. But again, I do love playing here.”

This week’s top seed would have liked it more on Saturday if he had finished off Ebden in straight sets. Instead, he dropped the second set from a break up.

“That was frustrating,” he admitted. “I didn’t like how once I did get broken…my energy after that. My energy wasn’t great and that’s what cost me the second set…. I tried to give it away, but I was able to win so I’m happy about that.”

Harrison staged a fourth consecutive comeback from a set down, this time against Cameron Norrie. The 26-year-old prevailed 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, cracking eight aces without double-faulting and breaking Norrie three times after winning only three total return points in the entire opening set.

“You always feel concerned when you’re down a set, especially in a semi,” Harrison said. “I was able to kind of walk that line between being engaged and…let’s just say outgoing and expressive. It didn’t affect my play negatively. It helped me get my energy going.”

As for Isner, Harrison had this to say: “We virtually play tiebreakers every time we play. Every scoreline has been [like that] between [us]. It’s kind of a chess game; making sure that neither one of us flinch. The first guy who really blinks a little bit, throws in a double-fault, misses a couple of first balls, or something like that is usually going to be in a little bit of a hole.

“He feels comfortable here here; this has also been my most successful event. I feel just as confident as he does, so I’m ready.”

“There are no secrets there (between me and Harrison),” Isner commented. “We’re good friends and it’ll be a rematch of last year, so it’ll be cool.”