Match report

John Isner © Tennistalk.com
Legg Mason Tennis Classic
1st round
8/15/08 1 2 Tot
us  John Isner 4 4 0
ar  Juan Martin Del Potro 6 6 2
Juan Martin Del Potro © Tennistalk.com

  • Isner can't cool off Del Potro

    8/16/08 6:30 AM | Ricky Dimon

    Juan Martin Del Potro extends his match winning steak to 17 with a straight-set victory over John Isner at the Legg Mason Classic. He will take on Tommy Haas in the semifinals.

    The Legg Mason magic ran out for John Isner on Friday afternoon. That's what happens when you run into an opponent who has won three tournaments and 16 matches in-a-row.

    Isner, who reached last year's title match in Washington, D.C. by winning five matches in third-set tiebreakers, fell to Juan Martin Del Potro 6-4, 6-4 in just one hour and nine minutes. Del Potro will meet Tommy Haas, a straight-set winner over Alejandro Falla, in Saturday's semifinals.

    Not surprisingly, breaks of serve were precious in this battle between two giants; Isner is 6'9'' and the 19-year-old Del Potro is 6'6''. Isner put in 71 percent of his first serves, but that did not prove to be enough since he won less than half of his second-serve points. The American dropped serve once in the first set and that allowed Del Potro to take it 6-4.

    Isner came out of a brief rain delay to hold serve for 3-2 in the second, but Del Potro gained a second break of serve for 4-3 and never looked back. The Argentine lost only nine points on serve throughout the match and never faced a break point.

    “It is tough to return his serve,” Del Potro said. “My strategy was to break him once in each set and that's what I did.”

    It will be the first career meeting between Del Potro and Haas on Saturday afternoon.

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