John Isner is into the third round of the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati after beating the young Italian Jannik Sinner 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 hitting 41 winners and serving 12 aces in the win.
“I really think the crowd helped me a lot,” said Isner. “There was a time in the second set where I was pretty tired out there and wasn’t too great but I also know that is where I am the most dangerous because I have my serve and even if I am sort of dragging out there and keep the match even and give myself a chance. That’s what I did today and it was a great match.’
“I am happy with how I competed and happy to get the win”.
Both players did a good job holding serve at the beginning of the first set and it was the American with the first breakpoint of the match at 3-2 but the 19-year-old managed to save it and hold serve.
At 5-4 with the world number 15 serving to stay in the set, it was the Greensboro, North Carolina native with a set point but was denied not once but twice in the game.
The Italian eventually got the breakthrough at 5-5 and broke the 36-year-old with a stunning passing shot and served out the first set.
The second set was one of the tightest sets we had ever witnessed with it staying on serve with not a single breakpoint and the set would be decided by a tiebreaker.
It was Sinner who was the first to win a point off the American’s serve at 3-2 with an impressive cross-court forehand winner but he couldn’t win the next two points and that’s when the world number 26 capitalized and broke the Italian serve before serving out the second set.
The first four games of the third set went with serve and once again with Isner applying good pressure on Sinner’s serve he managed to earn two break points and broke to take a 3-2 lead.
That one break was all Isner needed to serve out the match and seal a place in the next round where he will face the Frenchman Benoit Paire.
“He is a tricky player and a mercurial personality but he has the ability to play unbelievable tennis which he hasn’t, for the most part, this year but maybe this tournament and he is an incredible talent and has so much variety in his game and super fun to watch and it will be a good match”. Isner said of the Frenchman.
Isner and Paire in their head to head are 1-1 with their most recent match taking place at the 2019 Citi Open when the Frenchman won in straight sets.
