Federer thumps Isner to win Miami Open for fourth time

John Isner already had his hands plenty full enough facing an opponent against whom he had never broken serve a single time in six previous meetings away from clay. An injury only cramped his style to an even greater extent.

Roger Federer maintained his stellar form and capitalized on a hobbled Isner to dominate 6-1, 6-4 in the Miami Open final on Sunday afternoon. Federer went 20-for-20 on first-serve points and lost a mere three service points in total as he triumphed in one hour and three minutes.

Isner, Miami’s defending champion, got off to the worst possible start with a surprising donation of serve in the opening game. The 6’10” American never came close to getting back in the set, during which he won just a single return point and eventually got broken twice more.

Even though a foot issue popped up in set two, Isner at least managed to make it more competitive. Federer continued to hold serve with ease but could not achieve a breakthrough until the 10th game. With Isner serving down championship point at 4-5, a long rally ended when Isner struck a down-the-line backhand that Federer could not retrieve. But it was all over when a challenge showed the world No. 9’s shot to be long.

For Federer, it is title No. 101 in his career (fourth at this Masters 1000 event) and a stark contrast from last year’s immediate exit from Miami in the form of a second-round loss to Thanasi Kokkanikis.

At a new–some say even better–venue, it was an even better Federer.

“I’m happy I chose to come back this year,” the 37-year-old Swiss assured. “It’s easy just to say, ‘Well, last year didn’t work out so I won’t come back this year.’ And, as I’m playing the clay, maybe add rather another clay-court event. But I felt like, ‘Let’s extend the hard-court season. Let’s see the new venue. To be honest, I think that was something also I was excited to see. I did feel like [my] game was there last year. And I thought also [my] game was definitely here this year, as well, even after the (early loss at the) Australian Open. So I’m happy with the team we took the right decision.”

It was the wrong decision for Isner’s repeat title chances. The 33-year-old had been 10-0 in sets this fortnight and 9-0 in tiebreakers, but he could not even get to a ‘breaker against Federer.

“It’s a terrible feeling, because you’re on an island out there, and you have no teammates to hide behind and going up against the greatest player ever, playing in this incredible atmosphere, and my foot’s killing me,” Isner explained. “Not that I would have won the match, anyways, let’s make that clear, but I think I could have made for a more interesting match and one that was a little more fun.”