WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina: John Isner won his second straight Winston-Salem ATP title Saturday, surviving three match points en route to a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (11/9) victory over second-seeded Tomas Berdych.
Isner, seeded third, successfully defended a title for the second time this season to go into the US Open starting Monday at Flushing Meadows on a roll.
The towering American, who also retained his title at Newport this year, fired 22 aces and also got a little bit of luck in the third-set decider as a forehand struck by Berdych hit the netcord and bounced high and wide to give Isner a second match point at 10/9.
Isner made the most of his opportunity, sealing the victory with a forehand winner after two hours and 26 minutes.
“It’s a great feeling. Both my titles this year are the exact same titles I won last year,” Isner said. “Defending a title is not easy. There’s pressure on you coming into the tournament so I think for me to do that, at both Newport and here in Winston-Salem, it should help me a lot going forward in the coming years. I’m absolutely thrilled.
“It was a very good match, an incredible atmosphere. It was a lot of fun to play out there,” added Isner. “There were certainly some tense times all throughout the match. At times probably wasn’t the prettiest of tennis, but I was able to gut it out and a.m. very, very proud of that.”
Berdych, who had three chances to put away the match in the tiebreaker including one on his own serve at 6-5, looked stunned. After the players had shaken hands and returned to their chairs to pack up his frustration boiled over and he slammed his racquet to the ground.
The Czech, a late wild card entry into the draw, had won three straight points to take a 5-3 lead in the tiebreaker, two of those points coming on errors by Isner. On his first match point, Berdych put a backhand volley into the net, and Isner saved another with a service winner for 7-7.
Berdych gave himself another chance with a service winner for 9-8, but Isner saved that one with an ace.
It wasn’t Isner’s first close call of the week in his home state. He needed three sets to get past Martin Klizan in the second round and a third-set tiebreaker to subdue top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the semi-finals.
Berdych in contrast, had dropped just one set in reaching the final.
Kvitova captures New Haven title
In New Haven, Connecticut, Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova claimed her second title of the season by beating Maria Kirilenko 7-6 (11/9), 7-5 in the final of the WTA Tour’s New Haven Open on Saturday.
The 22-year-old second-seeded Czech earned her ninth singles title by hammering seven aces and winning 56 percent of her first-serve points in the two hour, seven minute match.
The hardcourt tournament served as a tune-up for the US Open which begins on Monday in New York.
Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011, outlasted Kirilenko in a marathon opening set that took more than an hour. She then rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the second by winning five consecutive games.
Kirilenko, of Russia, committed seven double faults and won just 24 percent of her second-serve points.
Saturday’s final comes just weeks after the two met in the quarter-finals of the London Olympic women’s singles tournament, where Kirilenko won in straight sets.
