Isner upsets Roddick in fifth-set tie-breaker

Big-serving John Isner upset fifth-seeded fellow-American Andy Roddick 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 to advance to the fourth round of the US Open Saturday.

The 6-foot-9 (2.06m) Isner boomed in 38 aces and took the fifth-set tiebreak 7-5 to claim victory over the 2003 winner and this year's Wimbledon runner-up.

"Hit a big serve, get into the net and hit big forehands and dictate play," Isner, 24, said about sticking to his style of play. "I played well and I think I deserve it."

Roddick, who served 20 aces himself, saved two match points from 3-6 in the tiebreak with a pair of aces before he netted a forehand to end the three-hour 51-minute battle against the big serve-and-volleyer.

"It was a tough one to lose, especially after kind of coming back all that way," the 27-year-old Roddick, who also saved a match point in the fourth set with an ace, said about his fight back after dropping the first two sets.

"Bottom line is he played great in the breakers. He rolled the dice, came in. I made him play his last four volleys.

"He played well when he had to."

Isner, who won the first-set tiebreaker 7-3, gained the only mini-break of the climactic decider with a backhand passing shot that gave him a 4-2 lead.

Roddick banged in an ace on the next point for 4-3 before his towering opponent won his two service points on volleys to maintain his critical edge.

After Roddick found the net on the last point, Isner tossed his racket and fell on to the court in celebration.

"I just played well, stuck to the game plan and never panicked," said Isner, who had lost his only other five-set match in the first round of the 2008 French Open to Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.

"Even though I only broke serve once, I thought I made him play a lot of balls. Maybe I was just fortunate. Maybe I caught him on an off day."

Roddick said he felt like he had the momentum going into the last set, and had entered the tournament with great optimism after taking Roger Federer to 30 games in the fifth set of the Wimbledon final.

"It's tough. I don't know if I've come to a tournament, a slam, with as much confidence as I did with this tournament and leaving earlier than I want to.

"It's just the way tennis is. The fact that I was able to make the quarter-finals last year and I was playing just terrible, and didn't make it past the third round this year, that's just the way it is sometimes.

"That's the thing with sports -- there's not always a good reason for it."

The 55th-ranked Isner, who had lost his two previous career matches against Roddick, will next meet 10th-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain, who beat Germany's Tommy Haas in five sets.