John Isner battles past Philipp Kohlschreiber in round one - Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2012
World number 10, John Isner, defeated the 28-year-old German, Philipp Kohlschreiber, in the opening round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, contested in Rome. It was an epic three-setter, lasting an hour and 38 minutes. The local
crowd witnessed a one-set-down comeback from the American registering scores of 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 in the end.
The 24th ranked German was so close to registering a major upset of the tournament but he failed to respond in the second set tie-breaker round. Previously, both these players had faced each other in the second round
of the China Open 2010 and Isner was the winner in that encounter; bagging the match in three sets.
Isner started the match with a serve hold and so did his opponent. Both players bagged the following serve games to push the scores at 2-2. Apparently, no player was tested in the first part of the set but suddenly the American
ninth seed was under the cosh and failed to save the second breakpoint that gave the lead of 3-2 to the German.
A crucial serve hold from the German consolidated his position and Isner couldn’t handle the pressure; dropped another serve game and sunk to a trail of 2-5. Kohlschreiber bagged the following four points with ease and reported
a cracking set triumph against the American number one.
Both players started the second set at a faster pace and bagged the first two serve games before the repeat play of the opening set witnessed Isner going down a break in the fifth game. However, the American kept his cool and earned
his reward in a ‘do or die’ game of the second set in a form of a breakpoint. Scores were levelled at 5-5 and soon the tie-breaker round was enforced to decide the winner.
Finally, the spectators in the arena witnessed some power play from the American and he set up the third set clash; denying the German on two different occurrences to win the match.
The 24th ranked German started the third set poorly and dropped another serve game in the process that rounded off any chances of an upset. Isner stayed focused and booked a date with the Italian tennis ace, Andreas
Seppi, in the next round.
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