By Chris Oddo | Saturday July 29, 2017
John Isner has now held in 69 consecutive service games after defeating Gilles Muller in Atlanta on Saturday.
Photo Source: Kevin Cox/Getty
The beast of Atlanta is in beast mode. Second-seeded and three-time champion John Isner rolled past No.3-seeded Gilles Muller, 6-4, 6-2, at the BB&T Atlanta Open on Saturday to book his spot the final for a record seventh time.
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How dominant has Georgia-born Isner been in his hometown tournament? In the eight years that the tournament has been held, Isner has reached all but one final. The American improved to 26-4 lifetime at Atlanta (previous losses: Two to Mardy Fish, one to Andy Roddick and one to Nick Kyrgios in last year’s final) with a command performance to take down the tricky Muller behind 15 aces and four of four break points saved.
It wasn’t even as close as the scoreline.
After saving a break point in his first service game, Isner quickly notched a break on Muller in the third game of the opening set. That service break marked Muller’s first hiccup on serve all week—he entered play having held in all 24 of his service games.
Things quickly went downhill from there.
Isner kept the pressure up and broke early in the second set for 2-1 before notching a back-breaking second break for a 5-2 lead in set two.
Muller had a giant opportunity to stop Isner’s momentum in the final game, but Isner held firm after falling behind 0-40 to clinch his victory in one hour and 15 minutes.
The American has now held serve in 69 straight service games, dating back to his first match at Newport last week.
‘ Muller, bidding for his 30th win of the season and third in succession against Isner, said there was very little he felt he could do to derail Isner.
“He made it very tough for me today. I don't feel like I played a bad match. I maybe didn't serve well enough today but it's also because of him, he put a lot of pressure on me,” said Muller, according to ATPWorldTour.com. “It was very tough out there today. All credit to him. He played a great match.”
Isner will face either No.4-seeded Ryan Harrison in Sunday’s final. The American got by Kyle Edmund, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 to reach his second ATP-level final of the season. Isner leads the lifetime head-to-head with Harrison 5-2 but Harrison took their last meeting (2016, Toronto).
Sunday's all-American final in Atlanta will be the third such final in the tournament's eight-year existence.