Eighth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson leads ninth seed John Isner of the United States 7-6(6) after 63 minutes of play in their semi-final at The Championships on Friday.
Isner, a University of Georgia graduate, leads his former college rival Anderson 8-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, including victories in their past four meetings. Eleven years ago, Isner beat Anderson, who was at the University of Illinois, at the No. 1 singles spot in the NCAA Finals. Anderson has not beaten Isner at a tour-level event since February 2012 at the Delray Beach Open.
The winner will play World No. 1 and two-time former champion Rafael Nadal of Spain or Serbian No. 12 seed and three-time former winner Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final at the All England Club, Wimbledon.
Isner was at his aggressive best in the early stages and came close to capitalising on Anderson’s tendency to hit his serve to Isner’s forehand. Anderson also got himself into trouble by dropping his backhands, which provided his opponent a way back into the point. Isner’s best opportunity to break came on his third of three break points at 1-1, when he narrowly missed a backhand crosscourt volley. Anderson, who had been broken on nine occasions in five previous matches, breathed a huge sigh of relief to come through the 13-minute game.
At 4-5, Isner, who had not been broken in 99 service games during the grass-court major this year, struck a double fault at 30/30 to gift Anderson a set point, which he saved with an unreturned second serve. In an inevitable tie-break, Isner ripped a forehand winner to open up a 3/1 lead and went on to gain a 4/2 advantage before he lost three straight points. Anderson saved one set point with a smash at 6/6, then set up his first set-point chance with a crosscourt backhand that Isner could not return. Isner struck a 120 miles-per-hour second serve at 6/7, but hit a forehand into the net (the American’s 14th unforced error of the 63-minute set) to end a short rally.
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