John Isner is in familiar territory as he stands one match away from making his fifth straight trip to the semifinals in Atlanta. Ricardas Berankis hopes to play spoiler after beating Americans Tim Smyczek and Steve Johnson.

(1) John Isner vs. Ricardas Berankis

As with many of John Isner's matches, the on-court product was not glamorous on Wednesday, but the result was what was needed. Isner took to the court in Atlanta for the first time as he came out on top of Radek Stepanek 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7). Isner was able to fight back from a break down in both sets to force tiebreaks as he ran his tiebreak record in 2015 to 25-21. Isner won just a shade over 70 percent of his points on serve versus Stepanek. The Czech pushed him to the limits but was just wobbly enough on serve to allow Isner to stay in both sets for the win.

Berankis arrived in Atlanta on a short turnaround from playing the Recanati Challenger in Italy. Berankis made the final in that event, but lost last Sunday to Mirza Basic in a third set tiebreak. He has not let the travel or the loss deter him this week though. He has been rock solid in wins over Smyczek and Johnson without dropping a set to either. He has been broken just once and won 78 percent of points combined off his first serve through two rounds. At 25, Berankis is still looking for a real breakthrough on tour. He's had a moment or two with a quarterfinal showing at Winston-Salem in 2013 and making the now defunct Los Angeles final in 2012. Other than that though, the consistency at this level has just not been there.

Isner's Hot-lanta

Some of these smaller 250-level tournaments seem to really jive with certain players. For Isner, it is Atlanta. His record is 17-3 through six years of this tournament. He has won the title twice and made the final twice. Basically, when he doesn't make the final in Atlanta, it is a story. The amazing thing has been his ability to win tiebreaks here. He is 16-5 in tiebreaks at the BB&T Atlanta Open. He's won right around 63 percent of the tiebreaks played in his career, but that's up quite a bit at 76 percent in Atlanta. The former University of Georgia product obviously enjoys playing in front of friends and family and knows how to grind out these tight matches.

The Outcome

Berankis proved in the second round against Johnson that he can beat someone with a big serve and forehand. The problem though is Isner's serve and forehand are about ten fold minimum compared to Johnson's. Isner threw down 33 aces against Stepanek on Thursday and figures to run his season total higher on Friday. For Berankis, the onus will be on keeping pace serve for serve with Isner. They met once on clay in Houston back in 2013 where Isner topped Berankis 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. On a slower surface that day, Berankis actually won more points on serve with 75 percent compared to 71 for Isner. The difference was one break point with Isner converting two of three, while Berankis got just one of two from Isner.

Friday's encounter does not figure to have a whole lot of differential to it from that meeting. There will not be a ton of rallies. Isner will crush numerous aces. Berankis will be able to hold serve easily in most games. That means this match could come down to a few crucial points, possible in a tie break or two. For this columnist, that favors just one man. The King of Atlanta.

Prediction: Isner in two tight sets