Even on home soil at the New York Open John Isner couldn’t end his run of early round defeats in 2018.
Taking to the black courts of the inaugural tournament, the third seed was edged out of the second round 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3, by Moldova’s Radu Albot. It was a bitter result for Isner, who produced 28 aces and won 83% of his first service points. A single break of serve in the decider was all that separated the two players as the American is left looking for his first win of the year on the ATP Tour.
“Everybody knows that John has the best serve on tour. It is very difficult to return his serve. You have to be able to somehow put the ball in the court. Out there, you just don’t know, you just react and if you put the ball in the court, then you’re in the game. Then you try to create something. It’s very difficult to return. It was a good experience for the future,” tennis-tourtalk.com quoted Albot after the match.
New York in the third consecutive tournament where Isner has lost his opening match. Last month he suffered early losses to Hyeon Chung in Auckland and Matthew Ebden at the Australian Open. Putting him in danger of dropping out of the top 20 in the near future.
“They (the courts) are pretty slow and they definitely favor a slow-court player like Albot,” sixth seed Ryan Harrison told newsday.com about Isner’s loss. “John can’t take full advantage of his serve or being 6-10.”
It was a different story for Kei Nishikori, who would have faced Isner in the quarter-finals. The Japanese player continued his strong run at the tournament with a 6-2, 6-4, win over Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy. Nishikori, who is playing in his first ATP Tour event since returning from injury, dropped just seven points behind his serve.
“The attacking part of my game was better than in my first-round match,” Nishikori said. “My serves were good in the second set and that set me up to go on the attack. I’m getting better with every game.”
Nishikori is bidding to win his first tour level title since 2016.
In other matches, Adrián Menéndez Maceiras continued his fairytale run by defeating Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 7-6(5). The Spanish qualifier is moving closer to breaking into the top 100 for the first time at the age of 32. He will take on Adrian Mannarino in the last eight.
