Atlanta Open: Roddick, Isner Advance to meet in All-American Semifinal

The evening set of quarterfinal matches at the Atlanta Open were an all-American affair. First up was no. 4 seed Andy Roddick against Michael Russell. Roddick came out firing, scoring 12 aces and maintaining a first serve percentage of 73% throughout the match. Like Roddick’s previous opponents in the tournament, the wily 34-year-old Russell could not find an answer to his rock-solid service game. Roddick has only dropped serve once so far in Atlanta. After breaking Russell twice, once in each set, he proceeded to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in just 72 minutes.

Hometown favorite and two-time Atlanta finalist Isner had a bit of a trickier time against the 19-year-old wildcard Jack Sock. Up a break in the first set, the match was delayed for an hour due to rain. When the pair resumed, Isner conceded a break to put the first set back on serve and force a tiebreaker. Isner eventually came through to win the tiebreaker. The second set was a much more straightforward affair and saw the former University of Georgia player break his opponent’s serve for a 7-6, 6-4 win at 12:42am.

Following their quarter final victories, Olympic teammates Roddick and Isner have set up a dream all-American semifinal on Saturday. Both players will be looking to win their second title this season, and Isner is in search of his first back-to-back tournament win. The two have played each other 5 times in the past, with Roddick holding a 3-2 edge over his opponent.

Tags Andy Roddick BB&T Atlanta Open jack sock John Isner michael russell