Isner remains borderline unbeatable in Atlanta, through to sixth final

The only bet safer than hot weather at the BB&T Atlanta Open is John Isner winning matches.

And a whole lot of them.

Isner improved to 24-3 lifetime at his favorite tournament and booked a spot in his sixth final in seven appearances when he overcame 6’11” American Reilly Opelka in three sets on Saturday night. The top seed blew a set point in the opener and ended up losing it but stormed back to prevail 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2 in exactly two hours.

Opelka, of course, was playing in his first career ATP semifinal. Heck, the 18-year-old had never even won an ATP-level match prior to his arrival in Atlanta. But he prevailed over Christopher Eubanks, Kevin Anderson, and Donald Young before playing the first set against Isner like the veteran of the two. Opelka saved a set point at 5-6 to force a tiebreaker, battled back from a mini-break deficit, and stole the opener with a backhand return winner at 6-5.

But it was Isner who had more chances on his opponent’s serve the entire way, and those were chances on which the heavy favorite eventually capitalized. Isner broke at 1-1 in the second and had no trouble consolidating his lead the entire way. The world No. 17 soon all but clinched victory when Opelka double-faulted on break point at 2-2 in the third. Isner ended the match on a streak of five consecutive games, including another break at 4-2 and a routine hold at 5-2 to seal the deal.

After finishing runner-up to Mardy Fish in both 2010 and 2011, Isner is one win away from capturing a fourth straight Atlanta title. It will No. 2 seed Nick Kyrgios standing in his way on Sunday.

“For how young he is, he’s certainly one of the next budding stars–absolutely,” Isner said of the 21-year-old. “It’s going to be a fun match for me. This is arguably one of the toughest finals I’ve ever been a part of. He’s a good friend of mine and it will be a lot of fun.”

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