Reigning champion John Isner has started his bid for a fifth title at the Atlanta Open with a 6-2, 6-3, win over Australia’s Alex de Minaur.
The Wimbledon semi-finalist, who has won the tournament in four out of the past five years, required just 62 minutes to book his place in the quarter-finals. Hitting 15 aces and dropping just two points behind his first serve.
“It was a pretty comprehensive win. You never know how you’re going to come out. This was my first match on hard court since Miami so it’s been a little bit and hadn’t practised too much because the focus was on resting after that long match (at Wimbledon) so I’m very happy.” Isner told atpworldtour.com.
Isner’s win has booked him a showdown against German seventh seed Mischa Zverev. Zverev defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-2, in his second round match. It is the first time the 30-year-old has reached the quarter-finals of a hard court tournament since October.
The upcoming clash will be a chance for Isner to get revenge against his rival. In 2017 the American lost to Zverev in all three of their meetings. Including both the Australian Open and US Open.
“I’ve never played him in Atlanta so that might help,” Isner said. “He’s certainly going to have a lot of belief against me on Friday.
“He cleaned my clock at the US Open last year, he beat me in five sets in the Australian Open (in 2017) and he beat me somewhere else also. He’s a very good player and gives a lot of players trouble.”
Elsewhere at the tournament, South Korea’s Hyeon Chung played his first match in almost three months. The third seed has recently been sidelined from action due to an ankle injury, but managed to battle his way past Taylor Fritz to prevail 6-4, 7-6(5).
“He has a really good serve and big forehand, so I had many chances to finish in the second set but he was serving ace, ace, ace,” Chung said. “Tough second set. Anyway I’m really happy to win the match. After 10 weeks, I was really happy to be on the court.”
Ching will next take on Ryan Harrison, who was runner-up in the tournament last year. Harrison battled his way past Lukas Lacko 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
On Thursday Nick Kyrgios will start his campaign at the tournament. The second seed will open up against qualifier Noah Rubin. It will be Kyrgios’ first match since his third round loss at Kei Nishikori at Wimbledon. Matthew Ebden, Frances Tiafoe and Jeremy Chardy will also be in action.
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