John Isner recovered from serious fatigue early in steamy Atlanta, eventually winning his fifth title — and second straight — at his self-described favorite tournament, defeating Ryan Harrison 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday.
The Wimbledon semifinalist looked uncomfortable throughout the early stages in his eighth final in the American south, showing signs of weariness after three-set matches each of the last two rounds, and lost a tired service game late in the first set. But the match turned when he saved four break points across consecutive games in the second set — all on second serves — then converted his first break point of the match to go ahead.
He easily held the upper hand from that point on en route to his 14th career title — eight of which have come on US hard courts — which he celebrated in muted fashion with a single fist pump. Incredibly, he seemed fitter at the end of two hours and one minute than he did at the start.
“I realize I was fortunate today, but that’s how tennis goes,” Isner told reporters. “Ryan was the fitter player out there. He was playing much better than me as well [early on].”
Isner responded from a poor serving start to tally 21 aces and win 75 percent of first serve points despite putting less than two-thirds of first serves in play. Crucially, he saved four of five break points while Harrison lost the only two he faced in the first two-plus sets.
On the first of those break points, Harrison slammed a straightforward forehand into the net. It came as Isner appeared completely exhausted, allowing Harrison to run across the court with crosscourt groundstrokes and several drop shots. Isner held firm, however, forcing errors and summoning occasional aces to hang in.
He fittingly closed out the second set with an ace, then found a burst of energy to open the third and forced a Harrison error to reach break point. There, he hit arguably his best forehand of the match, an inside-out offering that landed on the inside edge of the line to put him in complete command.
Isner had opportunities to go ahead a second break, but the lone edge was all he needed and he closed out the title with an ace. It was a far cry from 5-5 in the first set, when the big man had no answer for a well-placed Harrison serve return.
Isner will remain No. 9 in the world, one spot off his recent career high. Harrison, meanwhile, sought his second career title but nonetheless righted his season after a poor start.
