By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday July 24, 2021
19-year-old American Brandon Nakashima rolled past John Isner to reach his first ATP final on Friday in Los Cabos.
Photo Source: Getty
19-year-old Brandon Nakashima saved three match points in the third set of his quarterfinal with Jordan Thompson on Friday night in Los Cabos.
The World No.134 was in no mood to walk the tightrope on Friday night, instead he impressively powered past No.2-seeded John Isner, 7-5, 6-4, to book his maiden ATP final. The former junior World No.3 becomes the youngest American to reach a final since 2016 and the youngest American to reach an ATP final outside of the USA since Andy Roddick in 2002.
Nakashima has just 11 ATP matches under his belt but he conducts himself like a longtime veteran of the tour on court, and on Friday night he was the more consistent and opportunistic player against Isner.
Nakashima won 18 of 31 second serve return points and broke serve twice on three opportunities. He saved the only break point he faced, while serving out the set at 6-5 in the opener, and breezed to his biggest career victory in one hour and 28 minutes.
The 19-year-old San Diego native will face Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the final. Norrie was magnificent, like a human backboard against Fritz, and raced to a 6-3, 6-1 triumph for his 34th win of 2021.
The Brit has reached four finals in 2021, but like Nakashima, he has yet to win an ATP title.