Three-time champion John Isner faced his toughest test yet at the 2016 BB&T Atlanta Open on Saturday night as he clashed with 18-year-old Reilly Opelka, who entered the tournament ranked outside of the top 800. Despite losing the first set, Isner completed the comeback thanks in large part to his dominant first serve, winning 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2 in two hours.
The young American’s ranking will jump inside of the top 400 after his stellar week in Atlanta. He will have a lot of positives to take away from his run here, which saw him take out Kevin Anderson and Donald Young. In this match, Isner’s serve was the x-factor, as the top seed did not even face a break point all match long.
“John served a lot of dingers,” Opelka said. “I was expecting it, I mean, his serve is too good; I couldn’t touch it. Other than that, I gave myself a chance to win the first set, and I won it. I was kind of lucky, to be honest. I wasn’t going to be able to break him [in the third set].”
“It was a tough match,” Isner said. “I knew that any given set could come down to a few points here or there, and that’s what happened in the first set. I was not too happy with how I finished off that tiebreaker. I was in control of it, 5-3, double faulted. Can’t do that. I just had a mental lapse; it’s not that I was playing poorly. I broke him pretty early in the second set and that definitely settled me down.”
“I’m sure Reilly is pretty tired of being 18,” Isner said. “I mean, he’s still got a lot to learn and a lot longer to develop and grow into his body. He’s a great kid and I’ll always be rooting for him.”
With the three set win, Isner advances into his sixth Atlanta final, where he has won the past three seasons. He has only missed reaching the final once, which came in 2012, where he lost in the semifinals. He will face the dangerous Nick Kyrgios, who fought past Yoshihito Nishioka earlier in the afternoon.
Opelka storms back in tiebreak to steal first set
As one would expect with two big servers, the first set was filled with aces and holds of serve. In the opening set, Isner hit 13 aces compared to six from Opelka. Isner was able to get two break chances, but the 18-year-old held firm, eventually forcing a tiebreak. Opelka blinked first in the tiebreak, as the top seed took the minibreak to go up 4-2. However, the momentum swung right back, as Isner gifted the minibreak back with an uncharacteristic double fault. On Opelka’s first set point at 6-5 on Isner’s serve, the young American crushed a backhand return off of Isner’s second serve for a winner, clinching the opening set.
Isner levels match at one-set a piece
The American number one was very frustrated at the end of the tiebreak, as he did in fact have the break. He did not stay down for too long, however. The top seed broke Opelka in the third game of the second set to go up 2-1 before consolidating for a 3-1 advantage.
Isner served for the set at 5-4 and took the second set with a powerful overhead that Opelka could not handle. This match was headed to a deciding third set. The key for both players continued to be who could hold serve in the big moments, and it was the 18-year-old who had a tougher time.
Number one seed breaks Opelka twice to earn sixth finals appearance
As the deciding set got underway, it was clear that Isner had the upper hand. He continued to serve spectacularly, having not even faced a break point all match. The top seed was also pushing Opelka in his own service games, and in the fifth game, the 18-year-old snapped.
Isner got the break to go up 3-2 off of a double fault and consolidated that break for a 4-2 lead. In the very next game, Isner went back on the offensive and broke Opelka once again to get within one game of the finals. His serve continued to be his best weapon, as he swiftly served out the match in easy fashion.
With the victory, Isner now holds a 15 match winning streak at the BB&T Atlanta Open. He will try to make it four titles in a row tomorrow afternoon, where he meets his friend, second-seeded Nick Kyrgios in the final. The American owns a 2-0 head-to-head over the Australian number one. Isner knows that it will be a tough contest, but is looking forward to the chance.
“He can be prone to some mental lapses, but I don’t think he’s done that this week,” Isner said. “He’s definitely motivated here this week. He’s an unbelievable player at 21 and for how young he is, he’s certainly one of the next budding stars. It’s going to be a fun match for me. It’s arguably one of the toughest finals I’ve ever been a part of. Going up against Nick, he’s a good friend of mine, and it’ll be a lot of fun.”