ATLANTA – Top-seeded John Isner advanced to his fourth straight Atlanta Open semifinal berth Friday, beating James Blake 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5).
Isner will face seventh-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, the Australian who overcame a disastrous start to beat third-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 1-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Isner extended his ATP Tour-leading tiebreaker record to 23-6 this season. Blake sank to 0-4.
Blake broke Isner to take a 2-0 lead in the second set, and held serve for a 3-0 edge. At that point, Isner slammed his cap to the court, kicked it, and soon broke back to pull to 4-3 when Blake double-faulted.
The match remained on serve until the tiebreaker.
In the night quarterfinals, second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa faced Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin; and American Ryan Harrison met Colombia's Santiago Giraldo.
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