WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina — John Isner ousted top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) Friday to stay on track to retain his Winston-Salem ATP title. Isner, seeded third in the US Open tune-up event, will face second-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych in Saturday's final. Berdych defeated seventh-seeded American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals Friday. “I'm very, very happy to be back in the final,” said Isner, who prefers one more day of tournament action to an early arrival on the practice courts of Flushing Meadows, where the US Open begins Monday. “I don't like getting to Grand Slams early. If I'm playing the week before, I want to do as well as I can. I'm playing the final match, so I'm very satisfied with that. I'm looking to defend my title. I did it this year in Newport, so maybe I can pull it off again.” Isner broke Tsonga once to take the opening set and the Frenchman broke Isner once to win the second frame and level the match. Serving at 5-6 in the deciding third set Tsonga saved two match points — the first with an ace up the middle — but finally couldn't withstand the towering American, who belted 24 aces and wrapped up the victory in two hours and 13 minutes. Berdych, who accepted a late wild card entry into the tournament, broke Querrey five times en route to victory in one hour and 39 minutes. Querrey delivered 18 aces but also had five double faults. Vinci bags Texas title Italy's Roberta Vinci completed her warm-up for the US Open with a straight-sets victory over former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic in the final of the WTA's Texas Open Friday. Vinci, seeded third, won the last six games of the second set to complete a 7-5, 6-3 victory. Vinci, making the most of second-seeded Jankovic's five double faults, claimed her seventh career WTA title and her first of 2012. It was a morale-boosting victory with the US Open — the final Grand Slam of the season — due to start Monday at Flushing Meadows. Serbia's Jankovic, meanwhile, missed an opportunity to lift a trophy for the first time since 2010. It was her second appearance in a final this season. She lost to American Melanie Oudin on the grass courts of Birmingham in June. Vinci, who had booked her spot in the final with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 semifinal win over Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski Thursday, found the going tougher against Jankovic, needing just over two hours to triumph. — Agencies
