By Chris Oddo | Saturday April 9, 2016
Jack Sock captured his eighth consecutive victory at Houston to set up a final with Juan Monaco.
Photo Source: U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships
Jack Sock continued an impressive run of domination at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston, winning his eighth consecutive match to set up a final clash with 2012 champion Juan Monaco.
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Sock’s 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over top-seeded John Isner extends the 23-year-old’s run of sets won to 16, and moves him into his fourth career final.
“It’s never easy playing a good friend,” said Sock. “On the tour and off the tour he’s one of my closest buddies. I’m happy to get through and happy to be in my second final here."
Sock saved the only break point he faced and won a larger percentage of his first and second-service points than Isner did over the course of the 87-minute match.
“Hopefully I can get the first-serve percentage up a little bit more in the next match,” said Sock. “[Monaco] is a great clay-court player and he’s had a very successful career, so I’m going to have to play well.”
Earlier on Saturday Monaco eased past third-seeded Feliciano Lopez, 6-4, 6-2. The 32-year-old Argentine was playing his first semifinal in 14 months and has not claimed a title since May of 2013. He owns eight career titles.
Monaco has defeated the second (Benoit Paire), third and fifth (Sam Querrey) seeds in Houston, and improves his career record at Houston to 13-4.
Sock and Monaco have never met on the ATP Tour.