Top seed Andy Roddick ended the fairytale run of 416th-ranked John Isner by beating the tour rookie 6-4 7-6 in the Washington Open.
Roddick served a modest 12 aces in the 80-minute match but had the only service break between the two hard-hitting Americans.
Isner, 22, entered the final having been broken only four times in 86 service games this week but Roddick broke the 2007 NCAA finalist from the University of Georgia in the seventh game of the opening set to take a 4-3 lead.
Roddick served out the set knowing he still had work to do as the towering Isner had won each of his previous matches this week in five-set affairs.
In the second-set tiebreaker, Roddick achieved a mini-break to take a 3-1 lead and served out the match for a 7-4 triumph.
'I couldn't ask for a better way out than to compete against Andy for the championship,' Isner told reporters. 'He's a great champion.'
Isner, a North Carolina native playing in just his second ATP tournament, gained entry into the Washington event as a wild card when Fernando Gonzalez withdrew with a sore back.
Among his upset victims this week were number two Tommy Haas, number eight seed Benjamin Becker, ninth-seeded Gael Monfils and Britain's Tim Henman.
