Tennis Atlantic

Isner defends Winston-Salem title, Djokovic claims Emirates US Open Series

John Isner needed his oft typical three sets and a tiebreak to defeat Winston-Salem Open 2 seed Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, finishing it off in a nail-biting tiebreaker 11-9 after saving multiple match points. With the victory, he claims his second straight Winston-Salem Open title and the North Carolina native is still the only man to have won the event.

It was a solid run to the final for the world number 7 Berdych, who appears to have broken out of a slump he had been in since Wimbledon. While Berdych seemed to play a cleaner match in the final than Isner, his play was not rewarded and it will be interesting to see the effect this match will have on both players as they head to New York and look to make runs at the US Open.

Berdych beat Alex Bogomolov, Jarkko Nieminen, Steve Darcis in three and Sam Querrey to reach the final, while Isner beat Martin Klizan, Jurgen Melzer, David Goffin and top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three and a tiebreak en route to the final, another steady tournament and heady performance from Big John.

Querrey’s loss in the semis gives Novak Djokovic the Emirates US Open Summer Series title. Still, it was a good summer for Sam and many other guys including tournament winners Andy Roddick (Atlanta: d. Gilles Muller), the forementioned Querrey (LA: d. Ricardas Berankis), Alexandr Dolgopolov (DC: d. Tommy Haas), Roger Federer (Cincy: d. Djokovic) and Isner.

–Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com