Isner in familiar territory
The omens are on John Isner winning a third ASB Classic title after he beat Kyle Edmund in the quarterfinals yesterday.
The giant American beat the British No 3 7-6 7-6 on Centre Court to book his spot in today’s semifinals in Auckland.
Isner has been a regular at the Classic, making his first appearance at the tournament in 2009.
But a compelling statistic is that every time he’s made it past the quarterfinals he’s gone on to win the title, which he did in 2010 and 2014. And against a tricky opponent such as Edmund he played some of his best tennis at the ASB Tennis Arena.
‘‘I am satisfied, I do think I played better than my last match,’’ Isner said, referring to his victory over Tennys Sandgren on Wednesday.
‘‘I thought I played a really good second set, I was playing more assertive and definitely getting more balls back in play.
‘‘It’s tough for a guy like me against someone like him, because he’s hitting his forehand so well and dictating play so incredibly well.
‘‘Towards the end of the match I started being more assertive on the return and I think that match point showed it.’’
It’s hardly surprising that both sets went to tiebreaks, although there was entertaining tennis on the way there.
Edmund was able to return as well as it’s possible for anyone against Isner’s serve and managed to get nine break points.
However, Isner was able to get out of trouble every time with his booming second serve, even managing an ace with a second serve on one of them.
‘‘I swatted away nine of them in pretty comfortable fashion,’’ he said. ‘‘So that’s a good sign going forward.
‘‘I know I need to do that and I very easily could have lost that match 7-6 7-6, that’s how it goes with matches that I play, especially against incredible players like Kyle.’’
Isner rarely has a quick match on tour, mainly because it’s so hard for anyone to break him and he struggles to break his opponents.
It means he’s regularly on court for around two hours for each match. This one lasted one hour 56 minutes. But he says he doesn’t train differently to other players to improve his stamina. ‘‘I just do what I do,’’ he said. Meanwhile, second seed Denis Shapovalov also bowed out after an error-ridden display against Frenchman Ugo Humbert.
Looking to reach the semifinals in Auckland for the first time, Shapovalov never really found his rhythm as he slumped to a 7-5 6-4 defeat on Centre Court in 90 minutes.
Humbert will now face Isner in the semifinals.
World-leading Twenty20 allrounder Sophie Devine has been named as the new captain of the White Ferns.
The announcement was made yesterday in Wellington by New Zealand Cricket.
Devine is the third captain of the White Ferns in the past 18 months, replacing Amy Satterthwaite who was appointed in September, 2018. Satterthwaite succeeded Suzie Bates. Devine has previously been the vicecaptain of the side.
Devine has known about her new role for a month and is ‘‘chuffed’’ about the ‘‘exciting opportunity’’.
‘‘It’s something that you sort of dream of, isn’t it?,’’ she said.
‘‘I didn’t think it would happen during my cricket career.
‘‘I just want to continue to build on the fantastic work that both Suzie Bates . . . and Amy Satterthwaite have brought into the side and really driving the culture behind the team.’’
There are several leaders in the White Ferns, which made choosing a captain difficult for White Ferns coach Bob Carter.
‘‘But I’m very confident that Sophie is going to do a great job,’’ he said. ‘‘Look at how great a player she is, and the others are very fine players as well. At the end of the day, I thought that she would be able to lead this team, as she’s shown already.’’
Devine is one of 17 White Ferns contracted to play by New Zealand Cricket. She will get a ‘‘captain’s payment’’ but her base salary won’t increase.
The White Ferns earn a base retainer of $44,000 to $64,000 per year plus match fees. The Black Caps’ retainer starts at $100,000 plus match fees.
Devine, 30, was first selected for the White Ferns while in college as a 17-year-old. She’s since played 102 ODIs and 83 international T20s.
For the White Ferns the toporder batter has scored more than 2500 ODI runs in her career so far. Her T20 strike rate is better than many of the New Zealand men, including Ross Taylor.
Devine has also made a career