Isner steps up to send
Two-time ASB Classic winner John Isner defeated last year’s champion Tennys Sandgren in their second round match yesterday.
Isner won 7-6 6-6 6-3 in a battle that lasted for two hours 15 minutes and it was a match where Sandgren slipped up in the third set after doing so much good work earlier.
The games in the first set were the usual stuff from a match featuring Isner, with no breaks of serve and few long rallies.
Before the tiebreak could get under way a spectator in the Robinson Stand needed medical assistance, which led to a fiveminute delay.
Once the tiebreak started Sandgren began with a double fault. He was furious knowing that this is the point of a match where Isner is so good.
Isner went up 5-1 and from there his big serve was always going to get the job done, taking it 7-3.
Isner made a horrendous start to the second set tiebreak, losing the first four points and ended up losing it 7-1.
In the fifth game of the deciding set Isner got the first break of the match, with his compatriot making a couple of unforced errors.
Sandgren’s head dropped at that point, knowing he had a daunting task ahead of him, needing to break Isner and a dispirited 2019 champion was eventually broken again to concede the match.
‘‘It was definitely a very close first two sets,’’ Isner said. ‘‘I won a tiebreaker, he won a tiebreaker, there wasn’t much separating us at all.
‘‘Eventually I played a good game at 2-2 in the third and was able to break and give myself some momentum.’’
That third set was highly pleasing from Isner’s point of view. He is so used to winning sets in tiebreaks, or managing to sneak one break of serve, but to get two of them bodes well for the rest of his week in Auckland if he can continue returning that well.
‘‘It’s a good sign,’’ he said. ‘‘If I would have won that match 7-6 in the third, to be honest, it would be a relief, but I wouldn’t be feeling that good about my game.
‘‘So I did play better in the third set and I’m looking forward to getting out there again tomorrow and hoping my footwork is a bit sharper and a bit more crisp.
‘‘We’ll see if that can lead to a good result tomorrow.’’
There were times in the match where Sandgren was able to win a couple of points in a row on Isner’s serve, to give him half a chance of a break. But a couple of bombs from Isner later and that opportunity was gone.
Isner says he doesn’t feel any sympathy for players having to face his monster serve.
‘‘Not at all,’’ he said. ‘‘When I play fast guys out there, they don’t feel sympathy for me when they’re running side to side and getting every single ball I hit, so I don’t feel sympathy.’’
Meanwhile, 38-year-old Spaniard Feliciano Lopez was among players who had to play two matches on the same day and in his second match he upset topseeded Fabio Fognini, of Italy, 3-6 6-4 6-4.
Lopez was on court 21⁄2 hours for a 3-6 7-6 (4) 6-4 first round win over compatriot Pablo Andujar and returned to beat Fognini in just under two hours.