Top seed John Isner has won his 13th consecutive match at the BB&T Open after dismissing France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-0.
The three-time champion overcame a break of his serve during the early stages of his match to dominate the remainder of the encounter by winning nine consecutive games. Isner fired 16 aces past Mannarino and won 67% of his service points to progress to the last eight.
“I think tactically I did some things well out there. I needed to go to his forehand and I did. I was going to his backhand a little too much early on and was paying the price for it. The game plan was get the ball high and up on his forehand because he does not like that at all.” Isner said about his win.
In the quarter-finals, Isner will play rising star Taylor Fritz in an all-American clash. The world No.60 required almost two hours to battle past Bjorn Fratangelo 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Fritz will now play in only his third ATP quarter-final of his career after Memphis and Acapulco earlier this year.
Anderson out
Kevin Anderson has suffered a disappointing loss to wild card Reilly Opelka. The third seed had two match points during the final stages of the match, but failed to convert as the former Wimbledon boys’ champion battled back to win 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5. During the encounter, Opelka produced an impressive 20 aces and won 80% of his first service points.
Opelka is currently ranked 837th in the world rankings, but is now set to rise almost 300 places following his run to the last eight in Atlanta. Prior to this week, the 18-year-old had never won a match on the ATP Tour.
Next up for Opelka will be American veteran Donald Young. Young was trailing by a set and 3-0 to Tim Smyczek before battling back to win 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-3.
