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Roddick stunned by Fish in Atlanta

Andy Roddick conceded just one break point to Mardy Fish, but it was enough for the No. 1 seed to taste defeat in Atlanta © Getty Images

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Andy Roddick was stunned by Mardy Fish 7-6(5) 6-3 in the battle of the big-hitters at the Atlanta Tennis Championships.

Roddick went into the match as the clear favourite, having beaten Fish in each of their previous nine encounters. The local media were already planning for a battle of the big servers in the final after John Isner had booked his place in Sunday's final earlier in the afternoon.

However, Fish displayed a better all-round game against the No. 1 seed, clinching a first-set tie-breaker despite maintaining a first-serves-in success rate of just 35 percent. It was Fish who had to save the only three break points of the set, but he edged the breaker 7-5.

Roddick faced an uphill task in the second set, taking just one point of his rival's first serve in the entire contest, and it was the favourite who coughed up the only break chance. Fish accepted gleefully, and victory quickly followed.

Wimbledon marathon man John Isner fought hard to see off Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-7(7) 6-3 to win the other semi-final. The second seed was mesmeric on his own serve as Anderson failed to secure a single break throughout the match. Isner simply had too much ammunition for his South African opponent and fired down 20 aces in total in the two-and-a-half hour victory.

Third seed Jurgen Melzer waltzed into the final of the German Open with a thumping 6-4 6-2 win over Andreas Seppi. Melzer, the only remaining seed in Hamburg, continued where he left off against Potito Starace to leave his Italian opponent well beaten.

One break was enough for the Austrian to take the first set and, although the score line suggests that the second was nothing more than a procession for Meltzer, Seppi had his chances.

Meltzer was forced to dig deep on his own serve, saving four break points. But the Roland Garros semi-finalist made the world No. 70 pay by securing two breaks to wrap up a comfortable win to maintain his excellent year.

In the other semi-final, Florian Mayer failed to build on his impressive win over former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero as he went down 7-6(6) 6-4 to Andrey Golubev. The first set saw both players earn a break apiece with Golubev sneaking it on a tie-break.

In certain respects, the second set went against the run of play. Golubev only managed a first serve percentage of 43 while his opponent soared into the high 60's on his own serve. But Golubev got the all important break and the 23-year-old heads into Sunday's final against Melzer in search of his first career title.

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