ATLANTA -- Three-time defending champion John Isner won the tallest matchup in ATP World Tour history, beating Reilly Opelka 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday in the BB&T Atlanta Open semifinals.The 6-foot-10 Isner had 22 aces against the 6-foot-11 Opelka, the 18-year-old Michigan player who recently replaced the former University of Georgia star as the tours tallest player.The top-seeded Isner has won 15 straight matches in the hardcourt event and reached the final for the sixth time in seven years. He has 10 tour titles, the last a year ago in Atlanta.After winning the second set, Isner left the court for nearly nine minutes to change his clothes in the hot and humid conditions. He broke Opelkas serve -- with Opelka ending the game with a double fault -- to take a 3-2 lead, and broke again for a 5-2 advantage.Opelka was playing his third tour event. He lost in the first round in the first two.Isner will face second-seeded Nick Kyrgios of Australia, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 winner over Japans Yoshihito Nishioka in the afternoon semifinal.It was a hot and humid day, Kyrgios said. Yoshi is a great player and makes you play a lot of balls and a lot of rallies. The crowd was great today, too.Kyrgios had 16 aces and saved three of four break points he faced. He won in Marseille, France, in February for his lone tour title.I knew at the start of the week that I could get this far, Kyrgios said. Its not really surprising, but its rewarding for sure.Nishioka was playing his first tour semifinal.I think I played very well, but he has a great serve, Nishioka said. He has a great second serve and I didnt have many chances to break. I couldnt put pressure on his first serves either. Custom Philadelphia 76ers Jerseys . LOUIS -- Valtteri Filppula assisted on three of Tampa Bays four goals, and the Lightning beat the St. Philadelphia 76ers Shirts . 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Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying.Mercedes have revealed they were on the verge of instructing Lewis Hamilton to take an emergency pit-stop from the lead of the Mexican GP. Hamilton had badly flat-spotted his tyres, causing critical vibrations in his W07 car, at the start of the race when he out-braked himself into the first corner.I had a glazed right front so it locked up and I had no choice but to go across the grass, said Hamilton. After this the vibration was so big I was like there is no way I am going to make, Ill have to pit. That would have been my race over. According to Mercedes, the data from Hamiltons car was so alarming that they would have pitted him but for such an instruction having grievous - and potentially fatal - implications for Hamiltons fragile title dream.The vibration metrics were scary from the beginning, disclosed Toto Wolff. Simon [Cole, Mercedes track engineer] and I had a private conversation on the radio whether we should pit him for safety reasons.In any other race we would have pitted him and lost the race. We kept him out there in order to not throw away the championship for him. Both Mercedes run wide on the first lap of the Mexican Grand Prix, whilst Pascal Wehrleins race ends prematurely following a clash with Marcus Ericsson. Hamiltton himself had reported the vibrations over team radio when the Safety Car was deployed on the second lap of the race but was then, to Mercedes relief and apparent surprise, able to build up a substantial lead over Nico Rosberg when the race resumed.ddddddddddddEvery single lap, every single straight, we monitored the vibrations. Our team did a fantastic job of keeping that under control and then we pitted him a bit earlier because the vibration metrics were going sky high and a suspension failure could have easily happened. It was not a comfortable positions we found ourselves in, weighing up the championship versus a failure of the suspension, explained Wolff. While Red Bulls Daniel Ricciardo argued Hamilton should have been punished by the stewards for cutting the first-corner chicane, the Mercedes driver, still haunted by his victory-denying breakdown in Malaysia last month, admitted he was simply concerned about finishing the race.Honestly I didnt even think about the stewards, Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. I was more concerned with the flat spot that was just rattling my brain for 17 laps. I couldnt see the braking zone for Turn One. It was such a big vibration I was worried the suspension would break.But an unimpressed Ricciardo criticised the leniency of the stewards, complaining: I also didnt understand the start, how you can be leading, lock the brakes, go off and come out in front. I think he deserved the penalty; I think anyone who does that deserves a penalty. Dont miss The F1 Reports review of the Mexican GP at 8.30pm on Wednesday on Sky Sports F1. British GP2, and Renault development, driver Oliver Rowland join Natalie Pinkham and Marc Priestley. Also See: The Formula 1 Gossip Column Watch Sky F1 on NOW TV ' ' '