Top seed John Isner’s BBT Atlanta Open title defence is off to a flying start after the American reeled off the last 10 games of the match to dispatch of Frenchman Adrian Mannarino on Wednesday night. Isner extended his winning streak in Atlanta to 13 with the 6-4, 6-0 second-round result having claimed the title the past three years.
Despite being broken for 2-1 in the opening set, the World No. 17 began to find his range. From 2-4 down, he broke twice to take the opening set and after saving four break points in the opening game of the second set, was never troubled again, reeling off a bagel set to seal the match in little more than one hour. He finished with 16 aces and saved four of five break points faced.
“I guess just getting that break at 4-3 to get it back on serve,” Isner said of the turning point in the match. “The previous game I had three break points, but didn’t play that well. But it was still an encouraging game.
“I held serve at 4-2 and got it back on serve and from there felt really good about my chances. I certainly turned the match around. I don’t know if I’ve ever won 10 games in a row, but I’ll take it.”
Isner had carried a 5-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head record into his match with the French lefty.
“I think tactically I did some things well out there. I needed to go to his forehand and I did,” he said. “I was going to his backhand a little too much early on and was paying the price for it. The game plan was get the ball high and up on his forehand because he does not like that at all.”
Isner has never fallen before the semi-finals in six prior appearances and will next meet No. 8 seed Taylor Fritz after the 18 year old won an all-American clash with 23-year-old Bjorn Fratangelo. For the second time in as many FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with his opponent, the younger of the two Americans had to fight through three sets to advance.
Fritz claimed the result 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in just shy of two hours, hitting seven aces and claiming 79 per cent of first-serve points. He is through to his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season.
With Reilly Opelka earlier advancing over No. 3 seed Kevin Anderson, it marks the first time 18-year-old Americans are through to the last eight since Michael Chang and Pete Sampras did so in Los Angeles in 1990. Fritz has never played Isner.
DAY 4 PREVIEW
Second seed Nick Kyrgios makes his Atlanta debut with a contest against American wild card Jared Donaldson in the second round. Kyrgios is ranked a career-high No. 18 after starting the season 26-11 and winning his first title at Marseille. Donaldson is coming off a strong showing at the Rogers Cup in Toronto last week. The 19 year old won four matches to reach the third round as a qualifier, falling to Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic.
Should Donaldson defeat Kyrgios, he would join fellow teenagers Reilly Opelka and Taylor Fritz, No. 1 seed John Isner and No. 7 seed Donald Young as the fifth American to reach the Atlanta quarter-finals. That would tie the tournament record set at the inaugural BBT Atlanta Open in 2010. Donaldson would also become the seventh teen to reach an ATP World Tour quarter-final this season.
First up on Stadium Court will be No. 4 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov against 20-year-old Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan. Following that match, No. 5 seed Fernando Verdasco takes on Julien Benneteau. On AJC Grandstand Court, Horacio Zeballos seeks his first quarter-final since 2014 São Paulo against lucky loser Tobias Kamke, whose last quarter-final came at 2014 Hamburg.
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