Winston-Salem Saturday Briefing

© Susan Mullane/ Camerawork USAHometown favourite John Isner is bidding to win his second title of the summer.

SATURDAY PREVIEW –  ISNER CONTINUES HOT SUMMER, BENNETEAU EYES FIRST ATP TITLE

Big-serving John Isner will try to claim his second ATP World Tour title of the summer as he faces French qualifier Julien Benneteau in the final of the Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University on Saturday.

Isner, the No. 4 seed and former Top 20 player who came out of Wimbledon ranked No. 46, has worked his way back up to No. 28 this summer with a 16-4 record in six tournaments. He earned his second career ATP World Tour title in Newport on July 10, reached the final in Atlanta on July 24 (l. to Fish) and the semi-finals in Washington three weeks ago (l. to Monfils).  After early losses at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati he has rebounded this week with four straight wins, three of them in straight sets (he lost a set to No. 8 seed Marcos Baghdatis in the quarters).

Isner beat top seed Andy Roddick in the semi-finals. “It’s nice to be through to the final,” the Greensboro native said. “I was just looking forward to coming back home because it had been eight months, since Christmas, that I’d been in the state of North Carolina… I definitely wanted to do well here, it’s such an important event for me. I want to go up to New York with some momentum and that’s what I have now.” Isner, who grew up in nearby Greensboro, broke Roddick twice during his 76(7) 64 win in the semi-finals - nobody else in the tournament even got to break point against the former World No. 1. Isner is playing his eighth ATP World Tour final (2-5 mark) and third this year (1-1).

Not many players have worked as hard as Benneteau has this week. Having not won more than three matches in a row at any level this year before this week, he has now won eight matches in a row to get here - three in qualifying and five in main draw. Benneteau, who is playing in his fifth ATP World Tour final (0-4), is aiming for his first title in his 176th career ATP level tournament. While he won his qualifying matches and his first two main draw matches in straight sets, he has had to go the distance in his last three main draw matches, first against Igor Andreev (who served for the match before falling, 26 61 76(5)), then back-to-back battles where he had to save match point (beating No. 9 Sergiy Stakhovsky, 36 76(9) 62, and two match points over No. 10 Robin Haase, 36 76(7) 76(6)). Benneteau is the first qualifier to reach an ATP World Tour final this year, and he’s trying to become the first qualifier to win a title since Sergiy Stakhovsky won in St. Petersburg in Nov. ‘09. He is trying to become the second Frenchman to win an ATP World Tour title this year (Gilles Simon has won two).

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner   $74,630 and 250 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up  $42,500 and 150 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY –
Isner  Is appearing in his 8th ATP World Tour final…………2-5 in career finals (1-1 in 2011)
Benneteau Is appearing in his 5th ATP World Tour final………...0-4 in career finals (first final in 2011)

First-time ATP World Tour champions – Benneteau is trying to become the ninth first-time winner on the ATP World Tour this season and the oldest at 29 to win his first title:

Player/Country                     Age Tournament
Kevin Anderson (RSA)            24 Johannesburg
Ivan Dodig (CRO)                  26 Zagreb
Milos Raonic (CAN)                20 San Jose
Pablo Andujar (ESP)               25 Casablanca
Ryan Sweeting (USA)             23 Houston
Andreas Seppi (ITA)              27 Eastbourne
Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)    22 Umag
Robin Haase (NED)                24 Kitzbuehel

SATURDAY CHAMPIONSHIP FED-EX HEAD 2 HEADS –

(4) John Isner (USA) vs (Q) Julien Benneteau (FRA)  First Meeting

Isner FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W: Newport (d Rochus); F: Atlanta (l Fish); SF: Washington (l Monfils); QF: Auckland (l Nalbandian); Houston (l Karlovic)
YTD W-L: 27-18 (17-10 on hard)
YTD Titles: 1/Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: April 26, 1985
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 28

• Isner, 26, is putting together the best stretch of his career, having won 16 of his past 20 matches since July… During this stretch he has advanced to three finals in six tournaments…He is 2-5 in career finals
• He reached back-to-back ATP World Tour finals for the first time in his career…On July 10 he captured his second career ATP World Tour title in Newport (d. O. Rochus) on grass…He only lost serve once in 54 games…Has improved ranking from No. 46 to No. 28 since July …Will move to around No. 23 and if he wins the title to around No. 22
• Then followed with runner-up in Atlanta on July 24 (l. to No. 9 Fish in three sets after holding two MPs in second set TB)…Two weeks later in Washington he lost to No. 7 Monfils in semi-finals (held one M.P.)…Then lost in 2nd Rd. in Montreal (l. to Troicki) and 1st Rd. last week in Cincinnati (l. to Stepanek)
• Prior to Newport had 11-14 match record and his previous best results of the season was the quarter-finals in Auckland (l. to Nalbandian) in January and Houston (l. to Karlovic) in April
• He leads ATP World Tour with most tie-breaks won (27-19) this year and in aces (617)…In first three matches has fired 47 aces, which is most this week…Has held serve 40 of 44 games (91%)
• He is one of four Americans to win an ATP World Tour title this year (Roddick-Memphis, Sweeting-Houston, Fish-Atlanta)

Benneteau FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Eastbourne (l Kunitsyn); Gstaad (l Verdasco)
YTD W-L: 16-16 (8-5 on hard)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: December 20, 1981
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 113

• Benneteau, 29, is appearing in his first ATP World Tour final this season and fifth in his career (0-4) …He qualified by winning three matches and his first two in main draw in straight sets…But his last three wins have come in three sets, rallying from a set down…On Wednesday, he defeated Igor Andreev 26 61 76, on Thursday, he saved one match point en route to 36 76(9) 62 victory over No. 9  Sergiy Stakhovsky and on Friday he saved two match points in 36 76 76 win over No. 10 Robin Haase
• His last final came in Marseille in February 2010 (l. to Llodra) and this is the Frenchman’s first final on U.S. soil…His previous best result in the U.S. was the semi-finals in Memphis in 2006
• He is playing in his 18th  tournament of the year and his previous best results are the quarter-finals on grass in Eastbourne in June (l. to Kunitsyn) and Gstaad on clay (l. to Verdasco) last month
• Last week he qualified in Cincinnati (d. Garcia-Lopez by ret., l. to No. 2 Nadal 64 75 in 2nd Rd.) and reached the 2nd Rd. for the seventh time (incl. Roland Garros and Wimbledon)
• Has a 16-16 match record on the season (8-5 on hard courts)…He began the season at No. 44 but comes in at No. 113 (was at career-high No. 32 last August)…Will jump to around No. 83 and if he wins the title to around No. 63
• He is the first qualifier to reach an ATP World Tour final this season and the last qualifier to win a title was Stakhovsky in St. Petersburg in Nov. 2009…The lone French winner this year is Gilles Simon, who won titles in Sydney and Hamburg…Frenchmen are 2-3 in finals this season

DOUBLES FINAL – NO. 4 SEEDS  KAS-PEYA MEET UNSEEDED ERLICH-RAM IN TITLE MATCH
No. 4 seeds Christopher Kas of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria take on the veteran Israeli squad of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in Saturday’s doubles final. Both teams have not lost a set in three matches

Kas and Peya are playing in their third ATP World Tour final together this year (they were finalists in Delray Beach and Gstaad). Kas is 3-11 lifetime in finals and Peya, who won his first title in Hamburg, is 1-6.
 
Erlich and Ram knocked out No. 3 seeds Bhupathi and Knowles in the first round. The Israelis are aiming for their second title this season. They won in Eastbourne in June. This is their 26th career ATP World Tour level final (13-12) together. Erlich is 15-13 lifetime in doubles finals and Ram is 17-17 in doubles finals.