Mardy Fish knew he couldn’t count out Ryan Harrison in Saturday’s Farmers Classic semifinal, even after Fish breezed through a 20-minute first set, 6-0. Harrison came right back to take the second.
Fish didn’t let his guard down even after breaking Harrison in the third game of the third set. A screaming Harrison earned a code violation for smashing his racket, but broke Fish right back three games later.
Even after Fish went up 5-0 in the deciding set tiebreaker, Fish saw his lead nearly evaporate as Harrison rolled off three straight points. Luckily for the top seed in the draw, that deficit was about the only one his teenage compatriot could overcome.
In a matchup of two of the best American men’s tennis players, Fish took the tiebreaker 7-3 and bested Harrison in a ATP Tour semifinal for the second straight week. But Fish was the first to note the improvement in Harrison’s game from a straight-set loss one week ago.
“The learning curve’s pretty high. I’d buy stock if I could,” Fish said of Harrison to the crowd after the match.
Harrison’s learning curve was on display all week at the Classic. Saturday marked the third time in four matches that he dropped the first set, falling victim to what Fish called “the cleanest set of tennis I can remember playing in a long time.” But Harrison was once again quickly able to diagnose his problems and forced a third set.
He did it with some zip on his serve and a booming forehand, but it got away from him in the tiebreaker. Harrison double faulted to open, then had four straight unforced errors — three on missed forehands.
“I took some cuts at it, and I just missed,” Harrison said.
Fish is responsible for Harrison’s last two losses, but he knows how much growth there is ahead for his young friend and Davis Cup teammate, and that isn’t lost on him.
“He impressed me more today than he has,” Fish said.
“Once he figures out how to play at a high level consistently, he’ll have figured it out.”
After winning in Atlanta last week, Fish now has a chance to win his second straight tour event in Sunday’s singles final at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. He moves on to face either Alex Bogomolov Jr. in an all-American final, or Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis.