Tennis: Roddick beats Isner to reach Atlanta final
Andy Roddick of the United States returns to John Isner of the United States at the Atlanta Open tennis tournament, Saturday, July 21, 2012 in Atlanta. Roddick won 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4. AP/John Bazemore
ATLANTA, Georgia – Andy Roddick reached the final of the ATP Atlanta Open after he withstood 26 aces from John Isner to topple the top seed 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 on Saturday.
Roddick, seeking a second title of the season after victory at Eastbourne, will play Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, who ousted eighth-seeded Go Soeda of Japan 6-4, 6-3.
“I’m excited,” Roddick said. “I have a chance to win my second tournament in three tournaments.”
Roddick said he was looking forward to teaming up with Isner for the United States in the doubles at the Olympics.
“I’m going to be real happy to be on the same side with that serve in the Olympics,” Roddick said, adding that he didn’t get discouraged when he dropped the second-set tiebreaker.
“He’s probably the best tie-break player in the world right now,” Roddick said. “You’ve got to stay the course a little bit.”
The first set was delayed 44 minutes because of rain after Isner took a 3-2 lead.
When play resumed, Roddick won four of the next five games and won the set before Isner regained his rhythm.
In the second set, neither player broke as they went to the tiebreaker.
“I took care of my serve,” Roddick said. “I did what I was supposed to do. You aren’t going to beat John if you get broken a lot.”
Roddick missed an opportunity to break Isner in the eighth game of the final set, failing to convert four break points.
Roddick then held, and got the break he needed in the next game to close out the contest.
“I didn’t hit it as well as I would have liked,” Isner said. “I thought that was pretty apparent to see. All three matches in this tournament I missed a lot of forehands.”
Before he turns his attention to the London Olympics, Roddick tackles world number 63 Muller, who reached his first tour-level final since 2005.
Muller fired 17 aces past Soeda en route to the victory in 74 minutes.
On Sunday, he will be chasing his first ATP title. He has twice finished runner-up, in 2004 in Washington and in 2005 at Los Angeles.
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Tags: John Isner , Olympics , Tennis , United States
