Ace Alex rises to occasion

BRENDAN KEANE ALEXANDER ZVEREV won a battle of the giants to see off unseeded John Isner and reach today’s Italian Open final.

The tall German, 20, won 6-4 6-7 6-1 to become the youngest ATP Masters 1000 finalist since Novak Djokovic in Miami in 2007 at the age of 19.

Zverev had looked like wrapping up the match in straight sets after romping through the opener in under half an hour.

But defiant Isner managed to race into a 5-0 lead in the second set tie-break before taking the match to a decider.

The American had a chance to break with Zverev (left) leading 3-1 in the final set but the German snuffed out the challenge.

Djokovic had already made an appearance at the Foro Italico yesterday after beating Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro 6-1 6-4 in a rain-delayed quarter-final.

The match had been halted at 6-1 1-2 but the Serbian needed only an hour and a half to cruise past Del Potro.

The victory set up a clash with Rafa Nadal’s Austrian conqueror Dominic Thiem in the other semi-final.