Advertising

American No.1 John Isner played clutch tennis at the tail end of both sets to edge Felix Auger-Aliassime in two tie-breaks, 7-6(3) 7-6(4), and get within one win of defending his Miami Open title.

Auger-Aliassime had been the talk of the tournament going into the match - not only did the 18-year-old make it all the way to his first Masters 1000 semifinal as a No.57-ranked qualifier, taking out Top 20 players Nikoloz Basilashvili (No.19) and Borna Coric (No.13) along the way, but he was actually the youngest man to reach the semifinals of the Miami Open in the tournament’s 35-year history.

And the Canadian teenager nearly continued his breakthough run against the No.9-ranked Isner, going up a break in both sets. He broke the big-serving American for 4-3 in the first set (and held to make it 5-3) and again for 4-2 in the second set (again consolidating the break for a 5-2 lead).

Isner grounds inspired teen Auger-Aliassime to return to Miami final

Isner grounds inspired teen Auger-Aliassime to return to Miami final

Advertising

But both times he was unable to serve out the set, double faulting three times to drop his 5-4 service game in the first set and hitting a forehand into the net to drop his 5-3 service game in the second set.

Both sets ended up going to tie-breaks, where Isner’s clutch serving shone through - the American hasn’t dropped a set all tournament long, and he’s won nine of those 10 sets in tie-breaks.

“I’m just finding myself pretty calm in those situations,” Isner said of the tie-breaks. “Maybe it’s a little bit mental. I’m definitely playing my best tennis when I’ve been in that situation this week, no doubt.”

Isner is now through to his fifth career Masters 1000 final, his one title coming here last year (beating Alexander Zverev in the final) and his three other finals coming at Indian Wells in 2012 (losing to Roger Federer), Cincinnati in 2013 (losing to Rafael Nadal) and Paris in 2016 (losing to Andy Murray).

Isner grounds inspired teen Auger-Aliassime to return to Miami final

Isner grounds inspired teen Auger-Aliassime to return to Miami final

Advertising

The American, who’s now on an 11-match winning streak in Miami, hasn’t been feeling too much pressure as tries to defend the biggest title of his career. “Someone told me that if I lost my first match here, I’d be No.12 in the world. Like, “Big deal,” you know - that’s really good,” he said. “So I just looked at it like that. There’s no pressure, really. It’s another tournament. If this was eight years ago, I might have felt that pressure. But now, I don’t ever think about defending points or anything like that.”

Next up will be either Federer or another Canadian teenager, Denis Shapovalov, who played at night.

Auger-Aliassime’s run in Miami is projected to move him from No.57 to No.33 on the new rankings.

“Now I’m going home for some rest, then I’ll start training for the clay season,” he said. “Start in Monte Carlo. Obviously my goals and my expectations - maybe not my expectations - but I’m aiming high. I want to play well the rest of the year, but I’m just focusing on the daily work. We’ll see what I can do.”

Isner grounds inspired teen Auger-Aliassime to return to Miami final

Isner grounds inspired teen Auger-Aliassime to return to Miami final