American John Isner on Friday showed why he is playing some of the best tennis of his career, beating Mischa Zverev 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the BB&T Atlanta Open.
Isner needed 1 hour, 37 minutes on Stadium Court to oust Zverev and end a run of defeats to the seventh-seeded German.
Zverev won all three of his matches against Isner last year.
However, 33-year-old Isner has been rising up the rankings as he leveled their career head-to-head rivalry at 3-3.
“It was a weird match. The balls were bouncing everywhere, it was tough to control. I was happy to get through in three sets,” Isner said.
The 2.08m-tall American is No. 9 in the ATP world rankings. He reached a career-best No. 8 last week after making it to the semi-finals of Wimbledon.
Isner is next to face fourth seed Matthew Ebden, who breezed past Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour, 12 minutes.
The Aussie advanced into his second semi-final of the season, following a run to the final four at the Libema Open.
Ebden, 30, has not dropped a set this week, saving the only break point he faced to eliminate Baghdatis.
Isner is now two victories from winning his second title of the year.
The match shaped up to be a service battle, as both players needed just a break each to split the first two sets.
Isner ended up losing just two points (38/40) on his first serve, and it was the fourth straight contest they went to a deciding set.
Isner has won three of his four career matches against Ebden, but the Aussie defended his home turf with a four-set victory at this year’s Australian Open.
In the other quarter-finals, Ryan Harrison outlasted South Korea’s Chung Hyeon 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) and Cameron Norris was leading 7-5, 3-0 in the second set when Australian Nick Kyrgios retired due to a left hip problem.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was