By James Waterson Photo Credit: Mark Howard
(July 23, 2011) American teenager and World No. 120 Ryan Harrison advanced to his first ATP Tour semifinal after he defeated 272nd-ranked Rajeev Ram 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5) at the Atlanta Tennis Championships Friday.
Harrison, 19, won 67 percent of his service points and broke his opponent three times.
He next faces 29-year-old Mardy Fish, who beat World No. 68 Somdev Devvarman of India 6-4, 6-3 to reach his fourth ATP semifinal of the year.
Fish, the World No. 9, was effective on his first serve, winning 81 percent of those points, but he won only five points when he had to hit a second serve. Fortunately for the American, he got 73 percent of his first serves in.
Saturday’s match between the two Americans will be their first career encounter.
Isner cruised past Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan 6-1, 6-2, and Muller secured a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) victory against second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
They’ve played only once before, in the second round in Atlanta one year ago. Isner narrowly won that match 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7).
If Isner and Fish win their semifinals, they will play a rematch of their final from one year ago. Fish won that match in three sets.