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A Fever-Pitch Tennis Finale in Gwinnett

Americans Fish and Isner square off in Atlanta Tennis Championships final.

It'll be deja vu for fans in Sunday's singles final of the Atlanta Tennis Championships at Racquet Club of the South in Peachtree Corners.

Defending champion Mardy Fish of Florida again will play North Carolina's John Isner in rematch of last year's final, which Fish won 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4). But the way Fish is talking, the 3 p.m. match on the 3,716-seat stadium might be tougher than last year.

"The heat," Fish said of his most lasting memory of playing the University of Georgia All-American a year ago. "It's always hot, but there was a heat wave that went through at exactly that time."

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With 90-degree weather and 50-percent humidity forecast for Sunday's match, Fish knows improving to 9-0 in Atlanta might be grueling. He'd like to build on his 2-1 lifetime edge against his good friend, besides pocketing the winner's $96,800 for his sixth career title.

"We practice quite a bit together, we're good friends and we're very close," the 29-year-old Fish said.

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The tournament's top-seeded Fish, the ATP's No. 9-ranked player and top American, hasn't lost a set in three Atlanta matches this week. He likely hasn't forgotten the only one he dropped in last year's inaugural event at the Atlanta Athletic Club was the first against Isner. Though not specific, he said he plans to change his game for today's first-ever defense of an event title.

Fish's 6-2, 6-4 semifinal victory in his first ever match against Louisiana's Ryan Harrison on Saturday was tougher than score indicated. Fish never lost serve and broke Harrison's twice in the first set and once in the second. He held serve on the match's final game at love.

Isner staved off Gilles Muller on Saturday, 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-1, to reach today's final. The victory was the former college national champion's second over the Luxembourg opponent, having squeaked by him 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(7) in Atlanta's second round last year.

The match win also was the No. 35-ranked Isner's eighth consecutive, following five in clinching an ATP tournament title two weeks ago in Newport, R.I., and Atlanta victories over James Blake and Yen-Hsun Lu. Against Muller, though, Isner claimed the match's first service break at 6-5 en route to winning the first set, then recovered from losing the second-set tiebreaker 7-3 with a dominant third set that included eight aces.

In the 12:30 doubles final for $29,400, America's Alex Bogomolov, Jr., and Australia's Matthew Ebden face the German duo of Matthias Bachinger and Frank Moser. Bogomolov and Ebden beat Lithuania's Richard Berankis and Belgium's Xavier Malisse, 6-1, 7-6(3) and Bachinger and Moser edged Brittians Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(10-8) in the semifinals.

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