Cincinnati Masters: Isner shocks Del Potro to reach finals

John Isner celebrates his win over Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina

John Isner scripted a sensational come from behind victory over Juan Martin Del Potro to reach only the second ATP World Tour Masters Series finals of his career. The American was just a point away from a straight set defeat, before reinvigorating himself to score a stunning 6-7(5), 7-6(9), 6-3 victory after nearly three hours of thrilling battle against the world No.7. Isner will play Rafael Nadal in the finals on Sunday. The Spaniard defeated Tomas Berdych in straight sets in the second semi-finals. Isner has scored three top ten victories this week – taming Milos Raonic, Novak Djokovic and now Del Potro.

Playing inside the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Cincinnati, Isner held serve with an ace to get the match off the blocks. Del Potro responded with an ace of his own, before holding serve thanks to a couple of errors from his opponent. Isner survived a double fault in the third game, keeping play on serve with yet another ace. While Del Potro was the steadier of the two, Isner continued to flirt with danger.

At game point in the fifth game, Isner threw in a double fault. But an ace and a Del Potro forehand that sailed too long saved any immediate damage to the American. Isner saved a break point, the only one of the first set, in the seventh game with a thumping forehand down the line winner to ensure that the game remained on serve.

Eventually, the first set remained dead even at 6-6, forcing the players to decide it over a tie-breaker. In the breaker, one that began with a pair of aces from either player, there wasn’t a sign of a break with both players knotted together at 3-3. The breaker remained on serve as Del Potro earned his first set at 6-5 with a forehand cross court winner.

Isner stoic till this point, suddenly wilted. Serving to stay in the set, Isner delivered a good serve down the middle but Del Potro managed a return to force the rally. The American ran to the net, aiming to finish the point, only to dump a backhand volley in the net to hand the set to the Argentine.

Del Potro was only marginally superior in the first set – but the fact that he lost just six points on his serve compared to 13 points for Isner enabled him get in the head of Isner. And then Isner fumbled exactly when it mattered to surrender the advantage to the tower of Tandil. To be fair, Isner had to crouch low to reach for the backhand due to his height and that caused the untimely error.

In the second set, it was Isner again who was treated to an early test. At 40-15 in the fourth game, Isner made a couple of errors to fall back to deuce. A double fault offered break point to the Argentine, but Isner wiped it clean with a thundering ace. The highest ranked American produced a couple of forehand winners to avert an early break in the second set.

At the other end, Del Potro was zipping through his service games at a steady clip, never seriously troubled by Isner’s return game. Opportunity smiled at Del Potro in the eighth game. Isner crashed his forehand into the net to offer a break point, but saved it with a high kick serve on the next point. Isner dug a hole for himself when he made successive errors on the next two points to surrender a 5-3 advantage to Del Potro.