In a battle of big servers, John Isner again looked nearly impeccable on serve on Saturday at the BB&T Atlanta Open. The second seed blitzed past the third-seeded Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-2 in just 75 minutes to reach his seventh Atlanta final in the past eight years.

Isner reeled off his seventh consecutive win and again didn’t drop serve, erasing all four break points. The 6’10” American has now won seven consecutive matches and held for 69 straight service games, dating back to his title run last week at the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open in Newport.

“It was a very good match. Absolutely nothing to complain about today. On and off the court in pretty quick fashion and I certainly will be ready to go tomorrow,” Isner said. “I feel great physically, maybe the best I have felt in quite sometime. More importantly than that I am pretty confident as well.” 

Isner will try to win his eighth consecutive match and his fourth Atlanta title on Sunday when he faces compatriot Ryan Harrison or Brit Kyle Edmund, who face off in Saturday’s second semi-final, scheduled for 7 p.m. local time.

Muller, who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals earlier this month, had also been nearly untouchable on serve on the Atlanta hard courts. The left-hander had won all 24 of his service games and had erased all six break points. Through his first two matches, Muller had even out-aced Isner, 36 to 23.

But Isner, a three-time Atlanta champion, stepped up and played aggressively while returning. He broke in the third game to lead 2-1.

In the second set, Isner broke Muller twice and then erased three break points after falling down 0/40 while serving for the match at 5-2.

“He made it very tough for me today. I don’t feel like I played a bad match. I maybe didn’t serve well enough today but it’s also because of him, he put a lot of pressure on me,” said Muller, who fell to 2-4 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Isner. “It was very tough out there today. All credit to him. He played a great match.”

Muller, a 2012 Atlanta finalist, reached his fourth Atlanta semi-final. “It’s a perfect start to the hard-court season. I think I made the right choice to come here and get ready for the other tournaments, play in the heat, play on the hard courts,” Muller said. “I got two wins, another semi-final, so it’s all good.”

Yannick Hanfmann’s fairytale week will continue at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad after upsetting 2016 finalist Robin Haase on Saturday. The German qualifier claimed his sixth win in seven days in stunning fashion, saving four match points to reach his first ATP World Tour final.

To say Hanfmann has earned his spot in the Gstaad final is an understatement. The World No. 170, who is appearing in just his third ATP World Tour main draw, claimed his fourth win in a deciding set this week, notably battling past defending champion Feliciano Lopez and rallying from a set down to defeat eighth seed Joao Sousa. On Saturday, he needed two hours and 28 minutes to deny Haase a return trip to the final.

“This means a lot to me,” said Hanfmann. “Reaching my first final after saving four match points today is amazing. I really like the conditions here and the altitude suits my game. The ball bounces higher here. Tomorrow I will be the outsider again and I will give everything. I never expected to reach the final at the beginning of the week.”

Hanfmann recovered nicely after falling down a set and an immediate break to open the second. He would break right back and later saved a pair of match points in the ensuing tie-break, reeling off four straight points from 6/4 down to force a decider. There, he would turn aside two more match points while serving to stay in the match at 6-5 and proved to be one step ahead in the deciding tie-break.

Hanfmann made his ATP World Tour debut on the clay of Munich in May, reaching the quarter-finals, and advanced to the second round on the grass of Stuttgart last month, before claiming his big breakthrough this week. His run to a first tour-level final comes just two months after reaching his first ATP Challenger Tour title match in Shymkent, Uzbekistan (l. to Berankis). At No. 170 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, he is the lowest-ranked ATP World Tour finalist since No. 249 Matthew Ebden in Newport a week ago.

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Awaiting Hanfmann is the final is fourth seed Fabio Fognini, who rallied to defeat second seed Roberto Bautista Agut 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. Fognini improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head over Bautista Agut to 5-2 and has won both of their meetings on clay.

“I’m happy because my first match here was a horrible feeling, but I’m feeling better day by day. My game has improved,” said Fognini. “Tomorrow is going to be a tough match because he’s beaten a lot of good players. I saw him play this whole week and told my team that he’s going to be dangerous. But I’m going to go for it and try to win the title.” 

Fognini has done it the hard way this week, winning all three of his matches in a deciding set. Saturday’s victory puts the Italian into his first ATP World Tour singles final since this past October in Moscow (l. Carreno Busta). He’s looking for his first title since prevailing 12 months ago in Umag (d. Martin).

Eysseric/Skugor Move Into Final

Fourth seeds Jonathan Eysseric and Franko Skugor didn’t face a break point in reaching the final over Sander Arends and Robin Haase 6-3, 6-4. Awaiting them in Sunday’s championship match are second seeds Oliver Marach and Philipp Oswald. Marach reached the Wimbledon doubles final earlier this month with Mate Pavic (l. Kubot/Melo).

For the second straight week, a Lucky Loser will vie for an ATP World Tour title after Leonardo Mayer dismissed Federico Delbonis at the German Tennis Championships 2017 in Hamburg.

Mayer, who lifted the trophy in 2014, needed one hour and 24 minutes to defeat his countryman 6-3, 7-5, firing six aces while claiming an impressive 76 per cent of total service points. The 30 year old will appear in his fourth final on the ATP World Tour and first since finishing runner-up to Dominic Thiem in Nice in 2015. His lone title came here at the Am Rothenbaum the year prior.

“Today, I played very well,” said Mayer. “It’s never easy to play a friend. Federico is one of the best players on a clay court. It wasn’t easy for me, but I’m very happy for this win. I hope I can keep it going tomorrow.”

It has been a stunnning run to the final for Mayer, who rebounded after falling to German wild card Rudolf Molleker in the final round of qualifying on Sunday. He would enter the main draw after Martin Klizan withdrew due to a calf injury and proceeded to edge top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in a deciding tie-break in the first round. Mayer would not drop a set from then on, streaking to the final. He is looking to continue to good fortunes of Lucky Losers in recent weeks, following #NextGenATP star Andrey Rublev’s maiden title last week in Umag.

Mayer extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head over Delbonis to 3-1, taking their first encounter since earning a qualifying win five years ago at the 2012 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. He will next face a German for the title, with Florian Mayer and Philipp Kohlshcreiber set to square off in Saturday’s second semi-final.

World No. 138 Mayer will see his position in the Emirates ATP Rankings soar after reaching the final. The former World No. 21 is projected to break back into the Top 100 for the first time in more than a year after a shoulder injury hampered his progress in 2016. It marks the second straight week a player outside the Top 100 is in an ATP World Tour final, after No. 263 Matthew Ebden featured in the Newport final.

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