• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Tennis Panorama

Tennis News and Information, Tournament Coverage and Features

Tennis Panorama News

Tennis news and information, tournament coverage and features

  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Staff
  • RSS
  • Features
  • Tournament Coverage
  • Social Media
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • pinterest
  • Podcast
    • ITunes
  • Tennis Panorama Archive 2008-2017
You are here: Home / Features / Isner Begins Atlanta Open with Win Over de Minaur

Isner Begins Atlanta Open with Win Over de Minaur

July 26, 2018 by Tennis Panorama News

1-IsnerDavisCupNashville
John Isner

By Herman Wood

(July 26, 2018) ATLANTA, GA – In daytime action on Wednesday at the BB&T Atlanta Open, results were a bit mixed for the young Americans. Taylor Fritz fell to Hyeon Chung 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the opening match on stadium court. Chung showed impressive power in the match. The second set was a bit of a see saw affair, with an exchange of service breaks.

Ryan Harrison fared a bit better against Lukas Lacko, despite a slow start. He destroyed a racquet, received a warning, and was down 2-5 before fans had a chance to settle into their seats. He changed his focus, nearly giving up an early break in the second set with a tight, patient hold. After nearly being broken, Harrison took advantage of a little momentum swing and broke Lacko for a 4-2 lead. After a hold, he grabbed momentum with both hands, breaking Lacko again, this time for the second set, 6-2. Lacko pushed back in the third set with an early break of his own. Harrison looked frustrated, but held his composure nicely and stayed close down 2-3. Patience and defense kept paying off as he managed two breaks of Lacko, allowing him to serve out the match for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 win. Harrison will face Chung in the next round. The match was graced with the presence of legendary Davis Cup fan Dave Foster. Foster owns an impressive streak of Davis Cup tie attendance, both home and away.

In the evening feature match in the stadium, last year’s champion, John Isner, took on 19 year-old Australian Alex de Minaur. Isner won four of the last five BB&T Atlanta Opens and is always a crowd favorite. Isner was the heart of the UGA tennis team that won a national team championship only sixty miles from the BB&T in Athens, Georgia. Just as in last night’s college night event, there was barking. The partisan crowd never seemed to bother de Minaur. He was formerly ranked number two in the world as a junior. The pictures chosen for his highlight reel on the big screen made him appear to be much younger than nineteen. He entered the match ranked number 68 in the world.

As expected, Isner chose to serve to open the match. His first offering was called an ace, but de Minaur challenged successfully. It was about as much success as he would muster for the evening in his attempts to return Isner’s rockets. On the second serve, de Minaur appeared to try to take a page from Roger Federer, charging in. He only managed to misdirect it a bit, giving Isner a service winner. The match progressed on serve, with Isner patiently returning and rallying as needed. He ran down a few well struck shots from de Minaur, finally coaxing errors for a break to give Isner a 4-2 advantage. With a break in his pocket, Isner was very comfortable. He held easily and chose carefully the time to go for shots on de Minaur’s service game and then loaded up the rocket launcher at 5-3 serving. He put an exclamation mark on the set with a first set ace that was unsuccessfully challenged for 6-3, Isner.

It was apparent to de Minaur that his strategy on Isner’s serve was not working. Perhaps his mind wandered a bit, as Isner broke him on his first service game of the second set. Isner simply was serving too well and de Minaur was not quite as steady as he was when the match started. After a second de Minaur service break, completed with a double fault at ad out, Isner was again content to fire aces and service winners. For the match he had fifteen aces and won 93% of his first serve points. De Minaur never held a break point against Isner, according to official statistics from the ATP tour. He did manage a hold in his last service game, but could not come close when Isner served it out for the win, 6-3, 6-2.

Isner was asked after the match about de Minaur’s unconventional attack of his serve on the first point of the match; ‘I’ve seen it all – people standing in close, in the middle, at the fence.” As to the Atlanta Open, “I’m very happy to be back here. It’s the most successful tourney of my career.” In the next round he will play Mischa Zverev. Isner expects a tough match, as Zverev beat him three times last year. “I’m going to have to play very well.”

 

Herman Wood is covering the BB&T Atlanta Open for Tennis Panorama News.

 

RESULTS – JULY 25, 2018
Men’s
Singles – Second Round
[1] J. Isner (USA) d A. de Minaur (AUS) 63 62
[3] [WC] H. Chung (KOR) d T. Fritz (USA) 64 76(5)
[7] M. Zverev (GER) d M. Youzhny (RUS) 64 62
[8] R. Harrison (USA) d L. Lacko (SVK) 26 62 63
Men’s
Doubles – Quarterfinals
[3] N. Monroe (USA) / J. Smith (AUS) d [WC] C. Eubanks (USA) / D. Young (USA) 63 26 10-4
First Round
R. Arneodo (MON) / J. Chardy (FRA) d [1] D. Sharan (IND) / A. Sitak (NZL) 64 75
[2] R. Harrison (USA) / R. Ram (USA) d M. Arevalo (ESA) / M. Reyes-Varela (MEX) 75 61
T. Fritz (USA) / C. Norrie (GBR) d [4] J. Erlich (ISR) / J. Salisbury (GBR) 63 64

ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2018
STADIUM COURT start 12:00 noon
[4] M. Ebden (AUS) vs [WC] D. Young (USA)
M. Baghdatis (CYP) vs [5] F. Tiafoe (USA)
[6] J. Chardy (FRA) vs C. Norrie (GBR)

Not Before 7:00 pm
[Q] N. Rubin (USA) vs [2] N. Kyrgios (AUS)
P. Raja (IND) / K. Skupski (GBR) vs T. Fritz (USA) / C. Norrie (GBR)

Share

Filed Under: Features, Front Page News, tennis news, tournament coverage, tournaments Tagged With: Atlanta Open, John Isner, tennis, tennis news

Primary Sidebar

Search Tennis Panorama


Subscribe to Tennis Panorama via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new articles by email.

newsnow_f_ab

cheap tennis shoes from China on DHgate.com

planetbarkad

Tennis Panorama on Twitter @TennisNewsTPN

Tweets by @TennisNewsTPN

Interested in advertising on this site? Please fill out a contact form.

RSS ATP World Tour

  • Preview: Highest Seed Standing, Ruud Faces Felix Friday
  • Draper's Debut Run Continues After Monfils Retirement
  • Kyrgios Keeps Flying Into Montreal QFs
  • Fired-Up Felix Bounces Norrie
  • Ruud Edges Bautista Agut To Reach Montreal QFs

RSS WTA Tour

RSS ESPN AP Tennis Headlines

  • Ruud tops Agut, reaches quarters in Montreal August 12, 2022
  • Gauff wins marathon, reaches Toronto quarters August 11, 2022
  • Kyrgios ousts top-ranked Medvedev in Montreal August 11, 2022
  • Serena falls to Bencic, bids 'goodbye' to Toronto August 11, 2022
  • Serena pens essay saying career is winding down August 10, 2022

More Tennis Sites

15-lovetennis (French website)

ATP World Tour

BBC Tennis

ESPN

Jon Wertheim Sports Illustrated

International Tennis Federation (ITF)

New York Times Tennis page

Tennis Atlantic

Tennis Channel

Tennis with an Accent

Tennis Identity
USA Today

Tennis TV

WTA

ZooTennis.com






Footer

Subscribe to Tennis Panorama via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this website and receive notifications of new posts by email.

August 2022
S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  
« Jul    

Categories

© by TennisPanorama 2014 and beyond
 

Loading Comments...