Mardy Fish.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. -- Mardy Fish has a new look and a personal-best winning streak that even top-seeded Andy Roddick couldn't stop.

Fish extended his streak to nine matches with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 upset of Roddick, the No. 9 player in the world, in the Atlanta Tennis Championships on Saturday night. Fish, the No. 6 seed, has not lost a set in the tournament.

"Confidence is a huge part of our sport," Fish said. "I'm as confident on the court as I've ever been right now."

Fish will face No. 2 seed John Isner in Sunday's final. Isner beat Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3 earlier Saturday.

Following knee surgery last year, Fish has lost 30 pounds, from 200 to 170.

"I've worked hard and put away a lot of things I enjoy," Fish said.

Fish said the weight loss "enabled me to work harder, to train harder. We've put in the work, and here it is."

Fish, who won in Newport, R.I., earlier this month, will be playing for his second straight tournament win.

"He played very solid," Roddick said. "He stayed the course. He's a confident player right now, as he should be, and it showed out there tonight."

Fish ended a nine-match losing streak against Roddick to improve to 2-9 in the series between the two close friends.

"It feels good to continue playing well," Fish said. "I never want to play Andy, to be honest. He's one of my best friends out here and not only that he's beat me nine times in a row."

Roddick led the first-set tiebreaker 3-2 before Fish won five straight points. Leading the tiebreaker 6-5, Fish came to the net for a winning volley to take the set.

A daunting weather siren sounded as Isner prepared to serve on match point against Anderson.

Lightning was in the area. The appropriate answer was one final thunderous serve from the six-foot-nine Isner.

Isner had 20 aces as he survived another challenge to his endurance.

With the siren wailing, Isner unleashed a service winner to end the match.

Isner gained fame by winning the longest match in history, a three-day, 183-game match at Wimbledon last month. The Atlanta semifinal, played about an hour from his University of Georgia college home, presented a different level of stress for Isner.

The temperature was 36 C for the start of the match. On the hard-court surface, the reading reached 63 C.

"The conditions were just brutal," Isner said. "It definitely took a lot out of me."

Isner said he relied on his "will to win."

"Even though I am exhausted, I am able to use my energy smartly," he said. "I am able to keep plugging away until I get my break eventually."

Anderson said he went through six or seven shirts and had one drying on a fan if needed. But sweat-soaked shirts were not the only concern.

"I was sweating through my shoes," Anderson said. "I was slipping quite a bit."

Isner beat the six-foot-eight Anderson of South Africa in a matchup of two of the three tallest players in the ATP World Tour's top 100 rankings.

The two were college rivals. Isner beat Anderson as Georgia beat Illinois to win the 2007 NCAA championship. Isner is 3-1 as a professional against Anderson.

Anderson provided a stiff challenge from the opening game, when he had a break point on Isner. Setting the pace for the match, Isner rallied to win the game. He saved each of the seven break points he faced in the match.

Isner appeared the most affected by the intense heat in the second set. He couldn't hold serve when leading 7-6 in the tiebreaker. Anderson won two straight points off Isner's serve and then took the set.

The break between the second and third sets combined with cloud cover to give Isner a lift. The shade from the clouds dropped the on-court temperature about 30 degrees.

Isner led 4-3 in the third set before breaking Anderson's serve for a 5-3 lead.

Then came the weather siren on Isner's final serve.

"We didn't know how long that was going to last," Anderson said. "We just had to keep on playing. It kind of started just as he was starting to serve, which was kind of funny timing."

Isner said he wasn't worried about the threat of bad weather.

"I wasn't even thinking that," he said. "I was just trying to get the hell off the court."