John Isner beat Fabio Fognini 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes to get through to the second round at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, a Masters 1000 Tournament. Isner finished runner-up to Nick Kyrgios in the Atlanta final, while Fognini lost to Andy Murray in the quarter final at the Rio Olympic Games.
After a long delay due to rain Fognini missed a break point in the first game. Isner fought back from 15-30 to break in the second game. At 1-3 Fognini saved a double break point. The Italian earned his second break point chance at 3-5 but Isner hit three consecutive service winners to close out the first set 6-3.
Isner earned a break point in the third game as Fognini made a double fault. Isner got the decisive break in the fifth game at 2-2 as Fognini made two consecutive unforced errors at 30-30. At 2-4 Fognini dropped his serve after making three unforced errors to trail 2-5. The match was suspended at 5-2 30-15 due to rain as Isner was on serve. As the match resumed, Isner held his service game to 15 and closed out the match with an ace on the match point.
Stan Wawrinka lost the first set to Jared Donaldson 6-2 but was leading 3-0 as the match was suspended by rain.
Meanwhile Rafa Nadal spoke about his chances in Cincinnati after an hectic schedule at the Rio Olympic Games where he lost the singles semifinal against Juan Martin Del Potro and won the gold medal in the doubles tournament alongside his teammate Marc Lopez. He will use Cincinnati as a preparation for the US Open.
“I played 23 hours in seven days. My body is a little bit tired. It’s going to be tough”, said Nadal.
Andy Murray reached Cincinnati directly from Rio where he clinched his second consecutive gold medal after beating Juan Martin Del Potro in four sets.
“The match against Juan Martin was so up and down, so emotional, physical. It was a really hard match, one of the hardest matches I have played. Dong the long trip straight afterwards was tough”, said Murray.
