Fish beats Isner to Atlanta title
Date published :
26 Jul 2010 - 08:47:32
Mardy Fish won his second successive ATP title on Sunday when he beat number two seed John Isner in Atlanta.Fish, seeded sixth, had already pulled off a shock win over top seed Andy Roddick on his way to the Atlanta Tennis Championships final.
And the world number 49 made it 10 matches unbeaten as he overcame Isner 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in blistering heat.
"I feel as good as I've ever felt in my career," said Fish, who won the Hall of Fame Championships earlier this month.
The 28-year-old American added: "I've never won two tournaments in one year, I've never won two tournaments in a row, and on the ATP tour, I've never won 10 matches in a row.
"It's probably as good as it's been."
His opponent Isner, who was the victor in a marathon 10-hour match against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in June, won in Auckland earlier this year and was also looking to take a second ATP title.
How do you rate Mardy Fish? The 25-year-old looked to have the momentum against his compatriot after claiming the first set.
But Fish, appearing in his third final in four tournaments, responded with a break late in the second set and early in the third.
Isner broke back immediately in the decider and threatened to break Fish again in the ninth game, but fell short and conceded a decisive 4-0 lead in the tiebreak.
Fish then mowed through the final three points to seal victory.
"Playing in the heat, you have to convince yourself you feel better than the other guy, even if you're feeling it," Fish said.
"I felt great until about five-all in the third set, but I didn't want to leave anything out there.
"I was maybe a little lucky to pull through. It was a extremely physical match with all of the heat."
In Hamburg, Andrey Golubev has become the first player from Kazakhstan to win an ATP tour title.
Golubev, 23, beat third-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-3 7-5 in the German Open final on Sunday.
The 82nd-ranked Golubev did not drop his serve as he overwhelmed the 15th-ranked Melzer, a French Open semi-finalist.
