American John Isner will break into the world's top 10 for the first time after a superb win over world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open today.
Isner recovered from a break down in the opening set to win it on a tie-break and after Djokovic took the second set to level the match, Isner won another tie-break to claim his first career win over the Serbian.
The 7-6 (9/7) 3-6 7-6 (7/5) win means Isner is guaranteed to at least be world number 10 when the rankings are updated on Monday, while he can climb to eighth by winning the title tomorrow.
That will take some doing given that his opponent will either be Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, but the 11th seed proved against Djokovic that he cannot be taken lightly.
Djokovic looked in command in the opening set, breaking for a 2-1 lead and serving for the set at 5-4, but Isner broke back to level and eventually took the tie-break 9-7.
One break of serve was enough to give Djokovic the second set 6-3, but he could not force another break in the decider and Isner held his nerve to convert his third match point.
