Nicolas Almagro outplays John Isner in the second round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
World number 15, Nicolas Almagro of Spain continued with his belligerent form this year, outplaying 47th ranked John Isner of the United States in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships on Thursday afternoon.
The 16th seed Spaniard toiled for two hours and 39 minutes before he finally took down the tall American in the four-setter, 7-6(3), 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-3, to book a berth in the third round of all-prestigious Grand Slam
tournament being played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England.
Almagro’s form in the running ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season has been very impressive, as the Spaniard has already won three singles championship titles so far. His Thursday’s victory over Isner was the 32nd of
the current year, while he has lost 11 matches as well.
It was an absolutely serve dominated game from both players, with merely one break point, which came from Almagro, in the entire matchup. Both men delivered their first serve round about 70 per cent mark and conceded just two double
faults each. Isner, who is well reckoned for his big serve, cracked in 28 thudding aces in the contest but the Spaniard stood equally good buy firing 25 aces to nullify the advantage the American has in his game.
“I felt I had a lot of support out there, but I just couldn’t pull it out for them.”It felt like he matched me, serve for serve,” Isner said after he lost the matchup against the Spanish opponent, “I knew going into the match that
he had a really good serve and was going to get a lot of free points. But I didn’t really expect that, to be honest.”
Intense tennis was witnessed in the first three sets of the contest, with none of the players being able to break the opponent’s serve, dragging each set into the tie breaker round. Almagro took the better of Isner in the first
two tie breakers to get 2-0 in the competition but the American finally got his chance in the third set when he cracked a fiery forehand winner to seal the set at 7-6(5).
Almagro took just 28 minutes to wrap up the fourth set, breaking Isner for the first time in the contest and sealing victory at 6-3 to book a date with the 18thseed Russian, Mikhail Youzhny, in the third round draws
of the tournament. Youzhny won his second round clash against India’s Somdev Devvarman in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to meet Almagro in the third round.
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