By Erik Gudris

(April 13th, 2013) -- Though he wasn't the highest ranked player entered in the field, No. 5 seed John Isner finds himself the center of attention once again with a return trip to the finals of the U.S. Clay Court Championships in Houston.

Isner, who has battled in several three set matches this week, looked poised to exit in a hurry during his semifinal against defending champion Juan Monaco. Monaco broke Isner twice and soon raced away to take the opening set 6-1.

But it was a break of serve for Isner in the second set that changed the entire tone of the match. Monaco dropped serve for the first time during the event to give the American a 3-2 lead. Isner fought off a break point in the next game to go up 4-2 and that seemed to give Isner more confidence while Monaco appeared to lose his own.

With a couple of clutch volleys and a huge serve when up set point, Isner closed out the set 6-4.

Isner kept the momentum going in the first game of the deciding set when he pounced on a short ball and forced an error from Monaco to give him an early break. Though Monaco became more frustrated with himself, he stayed in touch with Isner who maintained his slim one game lead.

Never facing a break point throughout the set, Isner stepped up to the line at 5-4 to serve out the match. A surprise serve and volley play when up match point proved to be the right idea from Isner as he pulled off the comeback win 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The victory for Isner is big as it earned him his first win over a top 20 player this season and put him through to his first final this year. The look of relief and elation on Isner's face after winning said a lot about how much the win meant to him in a year that has seen him struggle both physically and with his confidence. Isner talked about afterwards about how the first few months of the season set him back.

"I felt this year I put a little pressure on myself to duplicate or to do even better than I did last year. When I missed Australia, it got a little mental and it snowballed and I had to take three weeks off. I'm a big guy and it takes me a while to get all my parts moving. But like I told you guys I feel like I'm starting to turn a little bit of a corner."

While Isner will probably tell you he would prefer to play on hard courts any day, clay may be his best surface as it gives him time to set up his shots and helps add even more height to his already potent kick serve.

"I've always enjoyed playing on clay. I think it is very helpful to a big guy like myself. It just gives us more time."

Almagro Rolls Into Finals Over Williams

Though Rhyne Williams has certainly had a breakout week in Houston by reaching his first career ATP semifinal, his run came to a quick end as he was given a lesson in clay court tennis from top seed Nicolas Almagro.

Despite some fine exchanges from both men including at net, this match was all one-way traffic for Almagro who managed to break Williams five out of eight times en route to a quick 6-2, 6-1 win in just under an hour.

“I think I played better than yesterday. I felt good today,” said Almagro. “I'm very happy with my game. I tried to be focused all the time. That's important for me. I tried to play aggressive and I did it.”

Almagro now enters the finals as the favorite considering he holds a 2-0 lifetime head to head over Isner and is seeking his 13th career title.

"John is a great server and well I'm in the final and waiting and we will see what happens."

(Photo Credit: AP)