Isner, the top seed and a local favorite after playing at the University of Georgia, opened his title defense Thursday night against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
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Isner played the last two sets differently than the first, when he was trying to pinpoint serves.
Prior to Sunday’s finale, Isner spoke about his prior success at the event.
Big-serving American John Isner and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis will meet in the final of the Atlanta Open after hard-fought three-set semi-final victories on Saturday. Sock, now at a singles ranking of 35, found himself quickly exhausted by weather and humidity, losing the momentum he had amassed in the first set.
But he opened the decisive tiebreaker by breaking Muller’s serve, and ended the two-hour, 36-minute match on his own serve on his first match point.
Also a two-time runner-up at the tournament, Isner’s appearance in the decider will mark his 19th ATP World Tour final. “It’s not about hitting the practice courts and working hard or working on this, it’s more about doing everything I can do get my body exactly right and try to get myself feeling the best I can, and I don’t foresee any issues with that”.
Awaiting him in the final is Baghdatis, who overcame third-set hiccups to edge Luxembourgian Gilles Muller 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-4).
22-year-old Kudla is now 94 in the WTA rankings, and the youngster managed to reach till the round of 16 at Wimbledon earlier this year.
After scoring off Isner’s second serve to start the match, Baghdatis was finished.
The only service break of the final set came on another Kudla forehand mistake, when he sent one wide to end the match.
Isner, who hadn’t reached a final since winning in Atlanta last year, said he felt stronger as the match wore on.
“I played five matches this week…the good thing is that it’s nothing serious”, Baghdatis said, explaining that he has an inflamed tendon.
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Top-seeded Mike and Bob Bryan won the first doubles semifinal Saturday in fashion befitting the mismatch that appeared on paper. The most successful tandem in history beat Donald Young and Christopher Eubanks 6-2, 6-4 for their record 942nd career win together.
