WASHINGTON, July 27 (Xinhua) -- German Mischa Zverev won all three of his matches against American John Isner in 2017, but Isner was on fire in the Atlanta Open quarterfinals on Friday beating Zverev 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 for the last four.
"He is a tough player and I played well today. I needed to," Isner said. "It was a weird match. The balls were bouncing everywhere, it was tough to control. I was happy to get through in three sets."
Isner will next face fourth seed Matthew Ebden of Australia, who cruised past Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-2 in just 72 minutes.
Isner has won three of his four past matches against Ebden, but the Aussie defended his home turf with a four-set victory at this year's Australian Open.
"I am definitely playing better than I was in the beginning of the year. I was struggling a little bit," Isner said. "To his credit, he played much better than me that day in Australia. He had the home crowd on his side. It helps a lot. Now, I'm playing in my backyard and he beat me in his backyard. We'll see if I can turn the tide."
