Fellow American knocks off Isner
John Isner has long been atop the American men’s rankings, but those days may be nearing a close as he turned 36 in April. On Monday one of the young American upstarts made sure Isner’s stay at this year’s U.S. Open was short.
Wild-card Brandon Nakashima upset the 19th-seeded 6-foot-10 Georgia Bulldog in straight sets, squeaking out two tiebeakers and winning 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Nakashima, 16 years younger than Isner, has moved into the top 100. He announced himself at the Open last year when he advanced to the second round and gave Alexander Zverev a gritty run for his money, winning the first set and winning during a second-set tiebreaker. Zverev went on to victory and the Open finals.
As Nakashima rises, Isner could be nearing the end and didn’t sound totally certain he’d be back at next year’s Open. He’s still ranked 21st — higher than any other American male despite his failure to get to a Grand Slam final.
“We’ll see how much longer I want to play,’’ Isner said. “I’m ranked like 20th in the world and I’ve only played nine, 10 tournaments this year. As long as I feel good, just maybe hopefully give myself another shot at this tournament next year.’’
Nakashima was using former tennis great Pat Cash as his coach until recently when they split up. Cash had compared Nakashima’s twohanded punishing backhand to Jimmy Connors’.
➤ In the All-American rematch of the 2017 U.S. Open finals and an unfortunate first-round pairing, Sloane Stephens edged Madison Keys in a third-set tiebreaker 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (9-7).
Keys’ unforced errors in the tiebreak did her in. Stephens beat Keys in 2017, too, for the crown. Keys saved two match points in the third-set tiebreaker but couldn’t reverse it.
“I honestly kind of felt like it was coming, so I wasn’t really surprised,’’ Keys said of the odd draw. “We were supposed to practice with each other that [Thursday], so we obviously had to scramble to change that practice. For some weird reason I was kind of expecting it.’’
Stephens knew this would be an awkward first-rounder.
“We’re friends and then obviously Americans playing at the U.S. Open is never easy,’’ Stephens said.
➤ Russian Danil Medvedev looked every bit the second seed and legitimate contender, grinding down venerable Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.
“Very humid today, quite hot. The score might seem easy but [it was not],” Medvedev said in an on-court TV interview. “Third set I was not that good physically also, but it is better when you are two sets up and not two sets down.”
Medvedev plays Dominik Koepfer in Round 2.
➤ Frances Tiafoe held off lanky qualifier Christopher Eubanks 7-6 (8), 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. He’ll face Argentine Guido Pella next.