Isner advances to ATP final
Date published :
09 Jul 2011 - 21:30:05
US top seed John Isner advanced to the final of the $500,000 ATP Hall of Fame Championships by defeating Germany's eighth-seeded Tobias Kamke 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) on Saturday.
Isner, famous for winning the longest match in tennis history over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon last year, will face either US qualifier Michael Yani or Belgian sixth seed Olivier Rochus in Sunday's final.
The lanky 26-year-old Isner, who has not lost a set all week and has dropped his serve only once, won his only career ATP title at Auckland last year but has advanced to his sixth career final, his first on grass.
It will be his first final since losing to Mardy Fish last July at Atlanta.
Isner, ranked 46th, fired 12 aces and won in 98 minutes to deny 2010 ATP Newcomer of the Year Kamke, ranked 96th, a trip to his first final after reaching the semi-finals for the first time in an ATP event.
Rochus, a 2009 semi-finalist and 2010 runner-up on Newport grass, faces a foe in Yani who was 0-7 in career ATP main-draw matches before this week and is ranked 361st in the world.
Rochus is 2-6 in ATP finals, having lost to Fish last year at Newport in his most recent championship match. His only titles came on clay at Munich in 2006 and Palermo in 2000.
