John Isner has defeated the French superstar Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi final of the Winston Salem Open. That was a thrilling encounter and went on for 2 hours and 12 minutes. Isner won the match by 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3). Isner had won the Winston Salem Open in 2011 as well and the way he is playing at the moment, there is a very good possibility of him defending the title.  This was the fourth match between these two players and Isner defeated Tsonga for the third time.

In the first set, both the players held their service in the first four games and the scores were levelled at 2-2 at the end of the fourth game. Isner managed to get a breakthrough in the fifth game and then, served out the next game to make the score 4-2. The American player held his service in the 8^th and the 10^th game to seal the first set by 6-4. In the second set, Tsonga came back and hit some wonderful forehand shots. The first 6 games of the second set went with the serve and the scorecard was saying 3-3 at the end of the 6^th game. Tsonga ran away with the set after that. He broke Isner’s service in the eighth game and won the last three games in a row to win the second set by 6-3.

In the final set, both the players fought hard. All the 12 games went with the serve and the set went into the tie breaker. Isner made a very good start to the tie breaker and took a lead of 4-1. After that, it was very hard for Tsonga to make a comeback in the match. Isner won the final set by 7-6(3) and knocked Tsonga out of the competition. In the final, Isner will play against Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic.