By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, March 29, 2019
Defending champion John Isner squeezed out a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), win over Felix Auger-Aliassime to charge into his second straight Miami final.
Photo credit: Lindsey Godwin/Miami Open
MIAMI—Rarely does 6’10” John Isner find himself looking up at an opponent, but the big man showed major resilience closing the gap today.
Canadian qualifier Felix Auger-Aliassime served for both the first and second sets only to see Isner break back both times in squeezing out a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) triumph to post his 11th consecutive Miami Open triumph.
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Isner rocketed his 21st ace on match point punctuating a declarative comeback with a booming exclamation point.
Flying below the radar is tough when you're nearly as tall as the umpire's chair, but Isner was overshadowed when the tournament began.
Now, the former all-American at Georgia has won 10 straight sets, including all nine tie breakers he’s played, powering into his 27th career final as he plays to defend a Masters crown for the first time.
"Knowing that I won this event last year, I really took the approach coming into this year that there is zero pressure at all to defend this title," Isner said. "And I said in press before the tournament that chances are I'm not going to defend it, because I have only won one of these in my whole career, and I have probably played a hundred of them.
"But now I'm one match away, so hopefully I can eat those words. I have been doing it so far."
The ninth-ranked Isner has not dropped a set in Miami since the opening set of his 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4 win over Alexander Zverev in the 2018 final.
Aiming for his 15th title, the defending Miami champion will face either 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer or another Canadian—20th-seeded Denis Shapovalov—in Sunday’s final.
The 18-year-old Auger-Aliassime put himself in position to win both sets, but could not close and may well be haunted by this defeat.
In his Masters semifinal debut, Auger-Aliassime served for the opening set at 5-4 only to tighten up and dump three double faults to donate serve before failing to serve out the second set at 5-3.
"I think I did the best that I could," said Auger-Aliassime, who committed seven double faults in the match. "I probably did the best of all the players that played him this week. I just couldn't serve from my part.
"It's a chance you can't miss, serving two times for the set, and just..I don't know. It's just terrible."
The first semifinal matched the most imposing server in the tournament with the most effective returner still standing. Isner took the court empowered by a tournament-best 77 aces, while Auger-Aliassime had won a tournament-best 33 percent (19 of 57) return games.
The youngest men’s semifinalist in the tournament’s 35-year-history showed no trace of jitters in his first meeting vs. the imposing champion 15 years his senior.
The seventh seeded scattered a diagonal forehand to face triple break point in the seventh game.
Pouncing from a wide crouch, the lanky Canadian anticipated correctly the direction of a second serve and drove Isner backward with a backhand return. Isner tried squeezing another inside-out forehand inside the line but sprayed that shot as Auger-Aliassime scored the rare love break against the American tower of power for a 4-3 lead.
The defending champion tried to play more proactively with his potent forehand, but the teenager’s balance off both wings and quickness around the court proved problematic.
Bursting off the mark, Auger-Aliassime caught up to a drop volley and crunched a crosscourt backhand pass confirming the the break with a clenched fist.
Serving for the set, Auger-Aliassime missed his spot with a body serve and paid the price as Isner cracked a forehand return back into the body that drew an error off the Canadian’s back foot for double break point.
Though the Canadian owns a smooth service motion the teenager tightened up throwing in three double faults to donate the break back for 5-all.
"Yeah, for sure, nerves," said Auger-Aliassime said. "It's like I caught a virus or something. I don't know. I couldn't put a second serve anymore. Even the first serve, I mean, if you put it in, you don't have to hit the second serve. Yeah, that's just very tough to swallow."
Neither man had lost a tie breaker in the tournament as the set escalated into the first-set breaker.
Nerves spiked with three mini breaks in the first six points. Then the defending champion took charge.
Isner attacked and rebuffed a great get from the Canadian with a backhand volley for 4-3. Whipping his 10th ace wide for 5-3, Isner pumped a crackling serve winner to earn three break points.
The ensuing 17-shot rally ended with Auger-Aliassime floating a forehand as Isner stole a 51-minute set.
Shaking off the disappointment of dropping a set that slipped through his grip, the Canadian qualifier fended off a break point with a big serve and biting forehand for a 2-1 second-set lead.
The athletic Auger-Aliassime was flicking back returns getting into points on the defending champion’s service games.
Running left, the Canadian cracked a crosscourt running backhand finding a sliver of space for break point. Trying to impose his forehand, Isner shanked a forehand off his Prince frame as Auger-Aliassime scored his second break for 4-2 leading the big man to shake his head in frustration.
Facing all-time ATP ace leader Ivo Karlovic in January gave Auger-Aliassime a preview of Isner's wrecking ball serve.
"I played Karlovic at the start of the year in India, altitude a little bit. I found Karlovic serve was even tougher," Auger-Aliassime said. "I felt like I was connecting a few good returns. I still broke him twice, you know, which is not easy.
"I felt like, you know, my return game was good today, but obviously he puts a lot of pressure on your serve. And even on second serves he goes around, hits hard. So I have to figure out a way to get better on that and try to handle him better next time."
This time, the Canadian made the break stand sliding his sixth ace then smacking a big serve down the middle to back up the break for 5-2.
Serving for the second set about 40 minutes after he served for the first, Auger-Aliassime fell into a double break point hole dumping his seventh double fault after Isner carved out a soft drop volley winner.
On the full stretch, the big man flicked back a defensive forehand. Auger-Aliassime was in position for the mid-court ball but spun a forehand drive volley into net as Isner broke back for 4-5 with a furious fist pump.
Firing a forehand winner down the line, Isner forced the second-set tie breaker after one hour, 45 minutes.
Isner immediately took charge coaxing a forehand error to open the breaker with a mini break before quickly extending his lead to 3-0. Jamming an ace out wide and following with a serve winner, Isner stretched the lead to 5-2.
Slashing a 140 mph ace down the T, Isner closed in one hour, 53 minutes.