American and former UGA tennis All-American, John Isner, successfully defended his BB&T Atlanta Open title on Sunday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory of unseeded Dudi Sela of Israel at Atlantic Station.
Isner, the crowd favorite, was in the final of this ATP World Tour 250-level stop for the fourth time in five years.
Isner broke Sela early in the first set to jump out to what proved to be a insurmountable lead for the No. 94 ranked Sela.
“Right from the beginning I felt great on the court, explained Isner. “Getting that early lead helped a lot. I was able to get up early and I was serving first as well, so I was playing from ahead pretty much the whole match.”
Sela had no answer for the Isner serve or forehand.
Isner says he has a comfort-level here in Atlanta and thanks his lucky stars this event is on the ATP calendar each year.
“This feels like my hometown; this is my favorite time of year,” added the World No. 12. “I’m off to a very good start again. I look forward to playing Washington D.C. again. I’ve played well there my whole career.”
Isner, who blasted 15 aces in the final is the top-ranked American, survived matches this week to reach the final.
“The field is so tough at this event. I’m so happy to win this.”
Sunday’s victory earns Isner 70 points and the current lead in the Emirates Airline US Open Series Bonus Challenge standings. The top three finishers could win up to $1 million in bonus prize money at the US Open.
In the doubles final, the reigning Wimbledon champions, American, Jack Sock and Vaske Pospisil of Canada won a thoroughly entertaining match over the American pair of Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, 6-3, 5-7, 10-5.
This well-attended celebration of tennis will return to Atlantic Station in 2015.
For a recap of the entire tournament, please visit www.bbtatlantaopen.com.
BB&T ATLANTA OPEN – ATLANTA, USA
$ 647,675.00
JULY 21 – 27, 2014
RESULTS – JULY 27, 2014
Men’s
Singles – Finals
[1] J Isner (USA) d D Sela (ISR) 63 64
Men’s
Doubles – Finals
[1] V Pospisil (CAN) / J Sock (USA) d S Johnson (USA) / S Querrey (USA) 63 57 10-5
Former Georgia Bulldog, John Isner defended his BB&T Atlanta Open crown on Sunday at Atlantic Station Photo by: Andrew Snook
