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  • Legg Mason Day 1 Recap: Isner Does it Again

    8/12/08 3:01 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - One year after winning five straight matches in third-set tiebreakers, John Isner goes the distance again and wins...again. He is joined in the D.C. second round by Tommy Haas and Donald Young.

    Legg Mason Day 1 Recap: Isner Does it Again

    One year after winning five straight matches in third-set tiebreakers, John Isner goes the distance again and wins...again. He is joined in the D.C. second round by Tommy Haas an d Donald Young.
    Tommy Haas d. Rik De Voest 6-4, 4-6, 6-1

    A surprisingly game De Voest, who is just 3-5 in ATP level matches this season, did well to bounce back from a first-set defeat, extending the No. 4 seed to three sets. Haas broke serve in the opening game of the match and that was enough to take the opening frame of play 6-4. The German continued to play well in set two, but De Voest did an incredible job scrambling all over the place, often forcing his opponent to hit one extra shot that proved to be the difference in points. De Voest took advantage of a dreadful Haas' service game to break at 5-4 and level the match. In the end, however, Haas turned it around to play a near-flawless final set and ran the South African to exhaustion. Haas meets Nicolas Mahut, a winner on Sunday, in the second round.

    John Isner d. Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(1)

    One year later, John Isner is still up to his old tricks. After winning five consecutive matches in third-set tiebreakers to reach the 2007 Legg Mason title match, Isner went the distance once again and came out on top. Like he did in the semifinals last season against Gael Monfils, Isner dropped serve at 5-5 in the third and had to break Granollers in stunning fashion to send the match into the tiebreaker. Like Monfils, Granollers was history after choking away a chance to serve out the match. Isner sprinted to a 6-0 lead in the decider, courtesy of one incredible forehand return winner, and closed it out 7-1 with an unreturnable serve. While the opening frame of play surprisingly featured three straight breaks of serve, the second was more like a typical Isner match. Neither man ever broke serve, but Isner threw away two cheap service points early in the tiebreaker and almost recovered from a 6-2 deficit only to see Granollers take it 7-5. For a moment that took the wind out of both Isner and the crowd, but little did they all know at the time that the setback was only setting up the dramatic final set.

    Donald Young d. Luis Horna 6-3, 6-1

    In what has to be one of the best performances of the 18-year-old's career, Young crushed Horna in just one hour and one minute late on Monday night. Sure Horna did not play up to par, but it was still impressive stuff from Young. The first set actually saw a lot of stellar baseline play from both men, and the only thing that separated them was Young saving the only break point he faced and converting the only break chance he enjoyed. After getting broken again early in the second, the Peruvian completely went away mentally. All credit to Young, however, as the American did a great job of working over Horna's backhand to send up plenty of down-the-line winners. Young will take on compatriot John Isner in the second round.

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