It was a fitting sendoff for Crandon Park, as the Miami Open presented by Itau bade farewell to its longtime home on Sunday with a thrilling finale.

A captivating championship saw John Isner rally past Alexander Zverev 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 for the title, adding a historic first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown to his trophy case. The American and the German wrote one last chapter in Key Biscayne, battling for two and a half hours in humid conditions.

At 32 years, 11 months, Isner is the oldest first-time winner at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level. In fact, only two other players (Agassi, Federer) older than Isner have won a Masters 1000 title. The big-hitting American overturned an 0-3 record in finals at the elite level, having previously finished runner-up to Roger Federer at Indian Wells 2012, to Rafael Nadal at Cincinnati 2013 and to Andy Murray at Paris 2016.

“To win like that in front of a crowd like that, with that atmosphere, you can’t replicate moments like that,” said Isner. “It was absolutely amazing.

“This tournament has so much history. All the best players have played here thought the years. For Sascha and I to share the court in the last men’s singles match ever here at this tournament is amazing. I never thought I would be in this moment considering how I was playing coming into this event.”

Isner’s triumph has significant ATP Rankings implications as well, with the North Carolina native moving up eight spots to match his career-high of No. 9. The 32-year-old, who adds 1,000 ATP Rankings points and $1,340,860 in prize money, has retaken No. 1 American mantle after relinquishing it last year.

Isner entered the final having earned 37 consecutive service holds, facing just one break point in that span. And the American looked to be the stronger of the two competitors in the early stages, moving swiftly around the court and firing his forehand with aplomb. 

Zverev started slow, striking a double fault to give Isner two break points in his opening service game. As he has done throughout the week, an aggressive Isner pounced on second serve returns and the American would jump on a short delivery to earn a third opportunity. But Zverev did well to turn aside all three break chances, as well as another two at 3-2.

With football legend David Beckham in attendance, the first set would be decided by a tie-break, where both players battled bouts of nerves. The lead vacillated from one side to the other, before Zverev reeled off four straight points to put a clamp on the opener after exactly one hour.

Singles & Doubles Masters 1000 Titles In the Same Year (since 2000)

Beginning to labour with the oppressive conditions and under the pressure of Zverev’s exceptional return game, Isner began to conserve energy in the second set. It would pay dividends. With Zverev serving at 4-all, a bevy of deep forehands from Isner’s racquet would force Zverev into striking multiple errors. And the American would close out the set after saving a pair of break points in the next game. Imploring the crowd to get behind him, he would force a decider in dramatic fashion.

Isner continued to ratchet up the pressure in the third set and despite failing to convert on four break points – including a 0/40 look – at 2-all, he would not disappoint with the match on the line. The American claimed his second break of the championship for 5-4 and closed out the title in the next game, firing his 18th ace to emerge victorious. In total, he launched 44 winners and dominated the rallies under five points throughout the final (73-58). 

“It’s incredible,” Isner added. “I mean, to come back after a pretty disappointing first set, a first set I had certainly some chances in and some break points. I was serving at 4/3 in the tie-break and lost four straight points. At that point I was actually exhausted. Somewhere along in the second set I found a second wind and I felt so much better in the second set and the third set than I did in the first.”

Isner finally cracked Zverev’s stranglehold on their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, claiming his first win in four encounters. All four meetings have come at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 stage.  Moreover, Isner is the first American to win in Miami since Andy Roddick in 2010 and the first player ranked outside the Top 10 to lift the trophy since 1991, when World No. 18 Jim Courier prevailed.

Isner kicked his high-powered game to new heights throughout the fortnight, dropping just one set en route to the title. Behind a confident array of net approaches and masterful court coverage, he notched convincing victories over fellow seeds Marin Cilic, Hyeon Chung and Juan Martin del Potro, leading into Sunday’s triumph. It marks the first time he has beaten a pair of Top 5 players in a single tournament.

In total, Isner adds a 13th tour-level crown and first of the year. With Del Potro winning in Indian Wells, it marks the first time since 2003 that two non-Europeans have swept the March Masters. That year, Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi split the honours.

Zverev caps a strong week that saw him drop just one set entering the final, with impressive wins over Nick Kyrgios, Borna Coric and Pablo Carreno Busta. He was seeking his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown, following victories in Rome and Montreal last year. The German, who was competing in his 10th tour-level final, is now 6-4 in title matches and remains in search of his first trophy of 2018.

“I think I missed more shots today than I did the whole tournament,” said Zverev. “I played bad from the baseline. But, it’s not easy against John, because you always feel the pressure that if you get broken you’re not going to win the set. That’s maybe a factor, but I had a lot of mistakes today that I didn’t do the whole week.

“But he played great. He played very well from the baseline and he returned very well. Obviously there’s his serve, but we don’t need to talk about the serve. I had a pretty good tactic and a gameplan, which, if you just miss, it doesn’t matter. It was not about that. It was more about me not finding a rhythm.” 

DID YOU KNOW?
John Isner’s fortnight in Miami was as improbable as it was impressive. The American came into the Miami Open presented by Itau with only two tour-level match wins to his name in 2018. He owned a 2-6 record, with opening-round defeats in Auckland, the Australian Open, New York, Acapulco and Indian Wells.

Experience and style prevailed over power and youth on Saturday in the Miami Open presented by Itau doubles final. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, playing in their 172^nd doubles title match as team, beat Russians Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-4.

The 39-year-old Bryan twins captured their fifth Miami title, their 37^th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown and their 115^th tour-level championship as a team. It’s their biggest title since 2016 Rome and their first tour-level crown since 2017 Atlanta.

“These are the ones you want to win. If you can win these, you’ll be at the top of the [ATP] Rankings at the end of the year. We came into the year, we had some goals of winning Masters [1000], maybe mix in a few Slams. But all the greatest teams in the world we’re in this tournament, and you have to win five matches. These are harder to win, because there’s no byes. So to beat five really good teams, some of the best teams in the world, it feels really good,” Mike Bryan said.

 Watch Full Match Replays

Khachanov, 21, and Rublev, 20, were playing in their first doubles final as a team. “Congrats to these guys. You guys were in diapers when we turned pro,” Mike Bryan said to the Russians, who both competed in singles during the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals. “So experience got you guys today, but when you guys grow up, you’re going to be rough.”

Khachanov and Rublev both remembered times when they were younger and watched the Bryans on television. “When we were 10 years old, we were watching them play. They were one of the best, they were winning everything. And now, still, they are one of the best, and I can say that they are in good shape,” Khachanov said. “We really enjoyed playing against you guys. Well done, well deserved.”

Rublev also complimented the Bryans, who will turn 40 on 29 April. “It’s a big honour and a pleasure to play with the best doubles players in history, and to have a great fight, and I think people enjoyed the match,” Rublev said. “They are the best. That’s it.”

The Americans’ first title of the season didn’t come easy, though. Early on, it looked as if the Russians had enough force and fearlessness to knock off the Bryans, who were playing in a Masters 1000 final on home soil for the second time this month (Indian Wells, l. to Isner/Sock).

Khachanov/Rublev broke in the opening game when Rublev smashed a forehand into the open court, and on their third set point, another forehand, this one from Khachanov, gave them a one-set lead.

The Russians were content to tee off from the baseline, whereas the Bryans tried to smother the net and make the Russians hit past them – or through them.

“We just tried to make them play, tried to get into some more points. Then they actually played human there at the end, which was nice. But we were just trying to throw everything at them, using all of our experience and doubles prowess to beat them and luckily, it worked,” Mike Bryan said.

In the second set, the teams traded breaks until Mike Bryan closed out the tie-break with a well-placed first serve down the T. During the Match Tie-break, five first serves and the crowd, with chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!”, carried the Bryans to victory, their first title in nine months.

“These two youngsters are going to be brutal in a couple of years,” Bob Bryan said. “We love coming to Miami, we look forward to coming back hopefully next year –”

“Ten more years!” Rublev interjected during the trophy ceremony.

Bob Bryan agreed, “Ten more years, yes.”

If someone told you that a player who lost his first match at the BNP Paribas Open and another who had two wins on the season entering the Miami Open presented by Itau would meet for the Miami title on Sunday, would you have believed them? Probably not.

But Alexander Zverev and John Isner have earned their places in the championship match at the second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year, and one of them will leave Crandon Park having made a major statement in the tournament’s last match at the facility.

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches from the 2018 Miami Open presented by Itaú & vote for who you think will win! 
Zverev vs Isner

Zverev had not had a bad season by any means, arriving in Florida with an 8-4 record. But three of the German’s four losses came against players outside of the Top 50 in the ATP Rankings. For someone who won five ATP World Tour titles — including two Masters 1000 trophies (Rome, Montreal) — last season, it was not the most inspiring start to the year.

But after surviving a third-set tie-break in the second round against Sydney champion Daniil Medvedev, Zverev has found some of his best tennis. He had to in his next match against former World No. 3 David Ferrer, who played at an extremely high level to take the first set before the German’s game became too overwhelming. Zverev has not lost a set since, ousting No. 17 Nick Kyrgios, Indian Wells semi-finalist Borna Coric and No. 16 Pablo Carreno Busta.

“I think I’m playing okay. I’m playing well now,” Zverev said. “Hopefully I can continue so in the final, and we’ll see how that goes.”

Across the net will be a familiar face in Isner. The American, who is into his fourth Masters 1000 final (0-3), has lost all three of his FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Zverev, including a Round of 16 heartbreaker against him last year. Isner was unable to convert on three match points in a three tie-break thriller against the current World No. 5, who Isner called after his semi-final “the best young player this game has”.

But the 32-year-old has played by far his best tennis of the year on Key Biscayne. From the Round of 16 on, he beat World No. 2 Marin Cilic, reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung and BNP Paribas Open champion Juan Martin del Potro — arguably the favourite in Miami — all in straight sets while facing just one break point (against Chung, which he saved).

“With my game, if I’m doing the right things, it doesn’t really matter who I’m playing,” said Isner, who won the Indian Wells doubles title with Jack Sock. “I’m going to be very tough to beat.”

The key to the match will likely be Zverev’s second serve. Against Del Potro, Isner made it clear from the first ball that for better or for worse he was going to go after almost every one of the Argentine’s second deliveries, and it paid dividends. In 2017, the American won 41 per cent of second-serve return points, according to Infosys ATP Scores & Stats, but he won 45 per cent of those points against the most in-form player on the ATP World Tour on Friday.

In Isner’s and Zverev’s three previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, Isner won just 39 per cent of second-serve return points against Zverev, while the German won 49 per cent of those points against arguably the best server in the sport. Entering Miami, Isner was third all-time in having won 56 per cent of his second-serve points. 

The German will have to avoid letting the World No. 17 take the first cut at the ball in rallies and will need to elongate points as much as he can and keep Isner on the defencive, behind the baseline. If the 20-year-old can control the pace of play, a third Masters 1000 title may very well be within his reach. But if he allows the match to slip to Isner’s racquet, forehands may zoom by him like they did Del Potro. And while he has beaten the American three times, he will not be looking to his past success on Sunday. 

Watch Semi-final Highlights:

“It’s going to be a completely different match. I think he’s going to hit a lot of aces, a lot of winners,” Zverev said. “But I’m ready for it, and hopefully it will be another great one.”

For Isner, it will be a successful tournament regardless of the result, as he will break back into the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings on Monday for the first time since May 2014 despite winning just two matches this year prior to Miami. But he hopes to complete his massive turnaround in form to claim his maiden Masters 1000 title after losing to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray in his first three finals at this level.

“If I’m not playing too confidently out there and not doing the right things on the court, I can be beaten by anybody, as well,” Isner said. “It’s been a very streaky year so far, but I’m very happy to be on the good side of that streak right now.”