Isner rips Roddick, meets Benneteau in title match

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina — John Isner beat Andy Roddick in an all-American semifinal of the Winston-Salem Open on Friday, and will take on French qualifier Julien Benneteau in the final.

Fourth-seeded Isner upset top-seeded Roddick 7-6 (7), 6-4 in a clash of big servers. Isner won the first set in a tiebreaker by breaking Roddick’s serve to go up 8-7, then closing out the set with a typical booming ace.

“I was flat out just luckier than he was in the first set,” Isner said about advancing to his third finial of the season.

Roddick went up a break in the second set, but Isner responded with two service breaks of his own to move into Saturday’s final

The 28th-ranked Isner will play Benneteau, who defeated 10th-seeded Robin Haase 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) in the other semifinal that took nearly 3 hours to complete.

Roddick, who had been 8-0 in his career in Winston-Salem, looked a chance to extend that unbeaten record when he went up 3-1 in the second set, but suffered two rare service breaks.

“He played a pretty good game down 3-1 and he was a little tired but slapped a couple of balls in and all of sudden I’m in hole down love-30,” said Roddick, who is ranked 21st in the ATP.

Isner’s ability to return Roddick’s second serves was crucial; he got 70 percent back into court.

“I was just thinking in a match like that it’s important to get up in the return game,” Isner said.

Roddick, who has been mostly idle this summer because of an abdominal strain, was glad to get in four matches in preparation for next week.

“I’m upset because I feel like I played the better first set,” Roddick said. “And he definitely played better in the second set.”

“But I’m really happy because I haven’t played four matches in a week since March. This week served its purpose for me in preparation for the U.S. Open.”

Benneteau, who had to win two matches last Saturday and another the following day just to get into the tournament, is ranked 113th. Haase had match point three different times but couldn’t put it away.

The challenge for Benneteau in Saturday’s final will be dealing with the home crowd that will favor Isner. He will also have to cope with fatigue after playing eight matches in seven days.

“Benneteau has kind of been on the shelf, but he came through qualifying so he’s had a lot of matches,” Isner said, “but he’s pretty confident.”