Roddick repeated his win over Malisse in the 2001 Atlanta final

Top seed Andy Roddick overcame the loss of the opening set to beat Belgian Xavier Malisse and reach the semi-finals of the Atlanta Championships.

Roddick won 4-6 6-3 6-4 in a repeat of the 2001 Atlanta final, the last time the city hosted an ATP tour event.

He achieved the vital break at 4-4 in the decider after opting to drop back behind the baseline to receive serve.

"I wasn't returning well close in. I just didn't have my timing," said Roddick, who next meets Mardy Fish.

"He was in a pretty decent groove on first serves in the third set...but he doesn't normally pop aces. I gave him a different look."

Roddick, who hit 17 aces during the match, is chasing the 20th title of his career on hard courts.

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But fellow American Fish, the sixth seed and champion on grass in Newport, Rhode Island two weeks ago, is likely to prove a tough opponent following his convincing 6-3 6-0 win over Taylor Dent.

John Isner, meanwhile, raced through to the last four in just 56 minutes with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Michael Russell.

Isner, who set a new record at Wimbledon last month when he and Nicolas Mahut played out the longest match in the history of the championships, was delighted to win so quickly.

His match in the previous round against Gilles Muller lasted two and a half hours and he said: "I felt better today than I did in my first match. I knew I would need to play better - even in this ridiculous heat.

"It's brutal when you're out there and you can't get a break from the sun - you can't get a breeze out there. "

Isner's semi-final opponent will be South African Kevin Anderson, who defeated Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-3 6-4.

The pair are former rivals in university tennis and Isner added: "He has rolled through the tournament. He has a huge serve and forehand. It will be tough."

In Hamburg, Austria's Jurgen Melzer, the third seed, will meet Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in Sunday's German Open final.

Melzer beat Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4 6-2 and Golubev knocked out Florian Mayer of Germany 7-6 6-4.

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