Top seed slumps out of Classic
The ASB Classic lost its first and third seeds yesterday as the shock results kept coming.
Less than 24 hours after Kiwi Rubin Statham knocked out world No 25 Chung Hyeon, John Isner and Marco Cecchinato were sent packing.
On Centre Court, Isner, the No 10 in the world lost 7-6 7-6 to American compatriot Taylor Fritz, who is ranked at 50.
On the Grandstand Court, Cecchinato, from Italy, went down 6-3 6-3 to Tennys Sandgren, from America. Despite being ranked 18 in the world, Cecchinato is a clay court specialist and wasn’t expected to go deep in Auckland.
The loss of Isner is a surprise though, as he had his best year as a professional in 2018.
However, Fritz, 21, had the best record on tour last year with tiebreaks, winning 20 off 28 and it’s a talent he has to be able to thrive on in pressure situations.
‘‘One of the strongest parts of my game is how I handle the pressure,’’ Fritz said. ‘‘More often than not, when I lose a match it’s because I don’t play the big points well. But I’d say that’s what’s made the difference in tiebreakers for me, being able to play well in those situations.’’
Fritz broke the giant American’s big serve in the fifth game of the opening set only for Isner to break back in the next game, much to Fritz’s annoyance.
‘‘I played a bad game, I started thinking too much about how I was up a break, how I should win the set now.
‘‘I panicked a bit, thinking I need to win the set now because I’m up a break. It wasn’t good at all from me and made me really need to win that first set.’’
Surprise, surprise the set went to a tiebreak. Fritz had his nose in front throughout and won it 7-3.
The second set also went to a tiebreak, without any breaks and once again Fritz came out on top 7-5, with Isner going too long down the middle of the court with a backhand on match point.
In other action, second seed Fabio Fognini lost his cool but won his second-round match.
The world No 13, from Italy, was docked a point in his match against Peter Gojowczyk, from Germany, for throwing his racket into the ground for the second time.
It was a thrilling contest, which Fognini won 6-2 3-6 7-6.