Cincinnati SF preview and pick: Del Potro vs. Isner

John Isner will be back in Cincinnati action one day after stunning top seed Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Up next for Isner is a Saturday rematch of the Washington, D.C. final with Juan Martin Del Potro.

Juan Martin Del Potro and John Isner will be going head-to-head for the fifth time in their careers and for the second time this summer when they collide in the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open on Saturday afternoon. Del Potro has won all four of their previous encounters and all four have come on hard courts. He most recently defeated Isner 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 earlier this month in the Washington, D.C. title match.

Isner may be 1-8 lifetime against Del Potro, but the 6’10” American is positively on fire at the moment. While he almost always is on U.S. hard courts, this is an impressive hot streak even by Isner’s standards. The world No. 22 reached the semis in Newport, captured the Atlanta title, finished runner-up in Washington, and now he is in the semifinals of a Masters 1000 event for the third time in his career. So far in Cincinnati, Isner has taken out Florian Mayer, Richard Gasquet, Milos Raonic, and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic–dropping only a set to Djokovic in the process.

Del Potro, of course, is also playing stellar tennis. The seventh-ranked Argentine kicked off his summer with a semifinal showing at Wimbledon before his triumph in Washington. A back problem and a controversial net-touch contributed to a third-round Rogers Cup loss to Milos Raonic, but Del Potro is back on track in Cincinnati. He booked his spot in the last four with scalps of Nikolay Davydenko, Feliciano Lopez, and Dmitry Tursunov while improving his 2013 record to 34-10.

“He’s so good,” Isner said of Del Potro. “His best surface is hard court, just as I think mine is as well. I hope I can do just a few things differently. I feel like I’m a bit fresher now than I was then, as I was coming off back-to-back events at that time.”

Isner already seems like a different player even from what he was in Washington. Almost without question he is playing the best tennis of his life, perhaps on par with his spring of 2012 hot streak when he upset Djokovic (Indian Wells) and Roger Federer (Davis Cup). Del Potro is the favorite on paper, but there are concerns about his back and–by his own admission–left wrist. With Isner playing the kind of tennis he is right now, almost anyone would have to be 100 percent and at the top of his game in order to beat him.

Pick: Isner in 3

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