South African Kevin Anderson toppled top-seeded John Isner 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) on Saturday to reach the ATP final at Delray Beach, where he will face Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic. Matosevic, ranked 173rd in the world and appearing in his first career ATP tour semi-final, beat Israel’s Dudi Sela 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7). He faces a tricky task to overhaul the seventh-seeded Anderson, after the towering South African came out on top in a battle of big servers. Both Anderson and Isner fired 16 aces, but 11th-ranked Isner also had three double faults — including one on the first point of the second-set tiebreaker which gave Anderson the opening he needed.
Anderson quickly jumped to a 3-0 lead in the decider, and while Isner fired two aces to narrow the gap to 5-4, Anderson promptly won his next two service points to seal the victory. The South African’s crisp return game saw him break Isner once in the first set, but he saved the only break point he faced in the match in the second game of the second frame. “Really excited,” Anderson said. “I couldn’t have played a better match today. I knew I had to really take care of my service games, and I served really well, especially in the tiebreaker.”
A great player.
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