Anderson sets final date against Matosevic

DELRAY BEACH: Kevin Anderson took out Andy Roddick on Saturday, then bounced John Isner from the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships yesterday.

Talk about a nice couple of days for the 36th-ranked South African.

Anderson beat Isner 7-5, 7-6 (4) and will face qualifier Marinko Matosevic of Australia in the final on Sunday.

The 11th-ranked Isner lost his serve in the 11th game of the first set. He then double-faulted away the first point of the second set tiebreaker against the seventh-seeded Anderson.

Isner entered with a 9-1 record in tiebreakers this season.

“I’m really excited because I couldn’t have played a better match today,” said Anderson, who won his first career title at Johannesburg last year. “Fortunately for me, John gave me a double in the tiebreak and I held onto my serve all night.”

The 173rd-ranked Matosevic reached his first career final with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7) victory over Dudi Sela of Israel.

Matosevic needed five match points to close it out in 2 hours, 54 minutes on a day when a swirling wind didn’t help either player.

“I’m very happy but I’m very tired,” Matosevic said. “I was just fighting off cramps.

“In the humidity, I just sweat a lot and cramp. I cramped after my match on Wednesday too.”

Matosevic finally eliminated Sela on his third match point in the tiebreaker. He held a 6-5 lead when he double-faulted on his first match point of the tiebreaker. He netted a shot on his second opportunity, and won when Sela netted a backhand.

Matosevic dropped to the ground when it was over, then got up and was screaming and raising his arm in victory.