It’ll be an All-American final at the BB&T Atlanta Open on Sunday.
Ryan Harrison took down Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund in three sets (6-7, 6-3, 6-4) Saturday night in front of a large crowd at Atlantic Station.
His biggest point of the night ignited the crowd — Harrison made multiple spectacular saves and hit a winner past Edmund. He went on to break serve in the game to put him ahead 2-1 in the second set. From there, he held serve and sent the match to a decisive final set.
“Home advantage is real in all sports,” Harrison said. “So, when you do something like that, it’s not just one point, it’s the momentum you pick up from it, too, because the crowd gets into it, and it picks up your energy level. Maybe that game was a pivotal spot for me to get that momentum going.”
With the win, Harrison reaches his first Atlanta Open final. He can capture his second ATP win of 2017 with a victory Sunday.
“It feels awesome,” Harrison said about his win. “I served for that first set there. I made about zero first serves, maybe one, I can’t remember, but certainly not the way I wanted to serve for the set. Toward the end of the first set, I relinquished control of the points and kind of played the last couple of games at his mercy.”
With Edmund controlling the game heading into the second set, Harrison used that key point in the third game to turn the match around. In the first, he had a chance to serve to take the set, but Edmund broke and ended up winning it in a tiebreaker.
“Starting the second set, I knew it was important after losing a tiebreaker to pick up my energy because it can get away from you quick after you lose a first set like that where you serve for it,” Harrison said. “So, it was just important to have good energy to start the second. And once I got momentum going with my serve, I felt really comfortable.”
Harrison won 84 percent of the first serves he landed. He converted three of seven break points, while Edmund converted one of three.
His win sets up a final with John Isner, who will be playing in his seventh Atlanta Open final. Isner hasn’t lost a set yet in the tournament and has held serve in 69 consecutive games. He won last week in Rhode Island and is potentially playing the best tennis of his life.
“John is very comfortable playing here. I am, too,” Harrison said. “He serves great. I know that I serve really well also. I think that our games are going to be ones that are heavily dictated by our control of play with our service games. It’s going to be really important for me to not get discouraged whenever he’s hammering aces left and right. … It’s going to happen.”
Harrison is 2-5 against Isner, though he won the previous meeting between the two in 2016. Isner hasn’t beaten him since 2013.
“John is one of my best friends,” Harrison said. “We talk almost every day throughout the year. So, we both have the ability to put that aside and we’re going to come at each other with all we’ve got. It’s part of playing tennis. The good news is that after those two-and-a-half hours, we’re probably going to hang out and enjoy that we both made the finals. Hopefully I’ll be the one with the big trophy, but at the end of the day, I’m still going to be using this momentum as a good thing.”
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