John Isner breezes into the fourth round at Sony Ericsson Open
30th seeded American John Isner warded off late resistance from his unseeded countryman Alex Bogomolov Jr. to advance into the fourth round of the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday.
The booming Isner displayed his tremendous skills in the opening set and held his serve comfortably in the first game. The qualifier, Bogomolov Jr. on the other hand quickly got himself on score sheet as he held his serve in the
following game and levelled the scores 1-1.
The seeded American finally earned the coveted break in the fourth game courtesy Bogomolov Jr.’s unforced errors and extended the lead to 4-1.
Although world number 33 Isner hasn’t showed much progress this season so far, he sealed the opening set by breaking his fellow American’s serve again in the eighth game and won the set, 6-2.
Isner had a low first serve share of 65 percent as compared to his countryman’s 71 percent but he overpowered his compatriot convincingly in their first ever meeting. He also registered an amazing 85 percent win on his first serve
and conceded zero breakpoints.
The 25-year-old Isner entered the second set with full confidence and held his opening serve amazingly by smashing three aces. His 27-year-old countryman, who reached this spot after upsetting 5th ranked British Andy
Murray with a breadstick, held his opening serve with his double handed backhands and squared the score 1-1.
In final set, both Americans displayed an awe-inspiring game of tennis and enjoyed top forms. They held their entire serves and took the set to tiebreaker.
Though the younger American hammered nine aces and had a higher first serve percentage of 67 percent as compared to his compatriot’s 57 percent winning a spectacular 91 percent on it. Although Isner faced a breakpoint opportunity,
he still couldn’t break through Bogomolov Jr.’s defences, forcing the set into a tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, Isner prevailed as he led 5-1. Isner eventually clinched the set with a 7-6(4) win. He moves on ahead to next face, South African Kevin Anderson.
Ranked 40th in the world, Anderson reached this spot after dumping Spanish Pablo Andujar in straight sets. He earned a 6-2, 6-3 win over the Spaniard in 76 minutes on another court at Key Biscayne.
Anderson completely outshined his rival as he fired eight aces, had a much better first serve share of 70 percent as opposed to Spaniard’s 47 percent and registered an awesome 94 percent win on it. In addition to this, Anderson
converted three out of six breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to win the match convincingly.
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