John Isner was visiting South America for the first time in his life after surprising everyone by opting to play in the Argentina Open over Memphis. The American is more known for his expertise on faster services, where his gargantuan serve is almost unreturnable, but he admitted in the run-up to the event that he plays “better on clay than indoor”. Isner backed this up by reminding everyone that he did defeat Roger Federer in a Davis Cup tie on clay, as well as taking Rafa Nadal to five sets at the 2011 French Open.
Unfortunately for the American, he wasn’t rewarded for his courage in mixing up his calendar and seeking a new challenge as he was knocked out in an extremely tight opening match against Dusan Lajovic 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. Isner didn’t have to save a single break point throughout the entire encounter but still ended up packing his bags after letting a 4-2 lead slip in the decisive tiebreak, where the Serb played incredibly well from the back of the court and found ways past the American’s imposing figure at the net.
Lajovic now faces one of the tournamen’s dark horses, Dominic Thiem. The talented Austrian is quietly going about his business and backed a first round win over Carreño with a three set victory against Portuguese qualifier Gastao Elias. Thiem saved a match point in the second set tiebreak and later admitted that he played “very poorly, I was very lucky to win”.
The match of the day though pitted Nicolas Almagro against Federico Delbonis. The home town favourite against the rogue talent. The Spaniard showed tremendous mental strenght, something that has always been his downfall, to get back from a break down in the final set and take a morale boosting 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory. Almagro was suffering against his more consistent opponent from the second set onwards and, as on many occasions, he was letting his anger get the better of him, with breathtaking winners off both flanks every now and again. In the end he found a way back into the match and got a victory that will go a long way to building his confidence as he tries to rediscover the form that took him all the way to the top ten.
“It’s difficult for very few athletes to be focused the entire time. I wasn’t feeling the ball or the racket, I was nervous and I had a mental block. Fortunately I got through that phase and turned the match around”, claimed Almagro, who awaits the winner of Leo Mayer v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter finals.
