Isner sets up 'servebot final' against Opelka in Houston

ATP
Saturday, 09 April 2022 at 23:39
John Isner Madrid Open 2021

John Isner will face Reilly Opelka in the 'servebot final' in Houston after the American secured a stunning comeback win over former champion Cristian Garin 4-6 6-3 6-4.

Cristian Garin is playing the best tennis this season as the Chilean struggled a lot with an elbow injury earlier in the season. It got so bad during the South American clay stretch that he openly talked about quitting tennis as the pain was so unbearable. It's not clear what changed but this week he played some great tennis to reach the semifinal.

It opened rather well for him as he looked every bit as confident and dominant as Isner on his serve. Towards the end of the set, he started playing even better taking a 5-3 lead and almost closing out with another break. Isner held for 5-4 but Garin finished it off with 6-4. It wasn't the greatest set of tennis from Isner as his serve was not that great.

It improved moving forward and it needed to if he hoped to secure the win. He hit 9 aces compared to only two in the previous set and no double faults compared to three in set 1. He dominated on his serve losing only 5 points and saving the only break point he faced. He attacked Garin successfully and broke him once for the 6-4 finish.

Isner's serve dropped off a bit in the 3rd set but it was still good enough to get the job done. Garin played rather well as well but one bad game proved costly for him as it usually does against Isner. Isner forced a break point and converted it with a foot fault. The American held his serve and won the final set with 6-4 to set up the servebot final. It's going to be epic!

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