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.
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