Isner Powers Into Delray Beach SF

Second seed John Isner remained untouchable on serve on Friday at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com. The American fired 24 aces and stormed into the semi-finals with a 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over eighth seed Adrian Mannarino of France.

“I thought Adrian was playing well today. Those three break points I saved in the first set felt like set points,” said Isner. “I was able to get the one break in the second set and sometimes that’s all you need.”

Isner saved three break points at 3-4 in the first set and secured the lone break of the match at 2-2 in the second set to wrap up the win in one hour and 33 minutes. He improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Mannarino to 7-1 and has won their past six matches.

The American has held in all 31 of his service games this week and hasn’t dropped a set. He’s into his fourth Delray Beach semi-final (2012-2014, 2019), but is looking for his final. Should Isner take the title, it would mark the 400th match win of his career.

Next up for the American is British qualifier Daniel Evans, who continued his top form with a 6-4, 6-4 win over sixth seed Andreas Seppi. Evans raced to a 5-1 lead in the first set and maintained control of the baseline rallies to move into his first ATP Tour semi-final since the 2017 Sydney International.

“I played pretty well today and thought it was a clean match. My game style matches up well to his,” said Evans. “Playing in the qualifying this week definitely helped me. I’m not there yet, though, and there’s still plenty of work to do.”

The World No. 148 has jumped nearly 45 spots in the ATP Rankings since the start of 2019. He opened this season by qualifying for the Australian Open and advancing to the second round, then finished runner-up earlier this month at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Quimper. The Brit recorded the first big upset of the week in Delray Beach by defeating third seed Frances Tiafoe in the opening round.