If John Isner serves like he did on Wednesday for the remainder of the week, the American might very well be celebrating his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open presented by Itau.
The 14th seed won 97 per cent of his first-serve points (31/32) and erased the only break point he faced to beat South Korea's Hyeon Chung 6-1, 6-4 in only 69 minutes.
Isner grew in confidence after breaking Chung in the fourth game of the first set. The 21-year-old Korean fired himself up to start the second set, but another break sealed it for Isner, who has doubled his 2018 win count this week. Isner entered the season's second Masters 1000 tournament with only two wins but he's secured four in South Florida alone.
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The 32-year-old Isner has reached three Masters 1000 finals during his 12-year professional career. But every time he's made a title match at the prestigious level, he's ran into a member of the “Big Four”: 2012 Indian Wells, lost to Roger Federer; 2013 Cincinnati, lost to Novak Djokovic; and 2016 Paris, l. to Andy Murray.
None of the “Big Four” is left in Key Biscayne, though, opening up the draw for Isner and others. The 6'10” American will play his 11th Masters 1000 semi-final against either Juan Martin del Potro or Milos Raonic, who face off not before 9 p.m. E.T.
Chung was trying to reach his second semi-final of the season after making the last four at the Australian Open. But he'll still have reason to celebrate come Monday: Chung is expected to make his debut inside the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings at No. 19 when the new rankings are released.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2Gz2faP
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