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8/4/10 6:42 AM | Ricky Dimon
John Isner gets revenge for his second-round Wimbledon loss to Thiemo De Bakker by winning two tiebreakers on Wednesday night in Washington. Isner is through to the third round.
Thiemo De Bakker did not have the benefit of playing a worn-out John Isner this time around, and the result was a much different story.
Isner edged De Bakker 7-6(6), 7-6(8) after one hour and 48 minutes in the second round of the Legg Mason Classic on Wednesday night. Their previous encounter came in round two at Wimbledon after Isner had outlasted Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in tennis history (11 hours and five minutes).
The roles were somewhat reversed on Wednesday, as De Bakker had needed more than two hours to get past Lukas Lacko one day earlier. Isner, on the other hand, earned a first-round bye as the No. 19 player in the world and No. 5 seed in Washington.
A tense first set saw neither man face a single break point. Isner battled through a deuce game midway through the opening frame of play, but otherwise both players held serve easily en rout to a tiebreaker.
Isner earned an immediate mini-break for 2-0 and soon built a 4-1 advantage. De Bakker got back on serve at 4-5, but Isner stole the mini-break right back for 6-4. After De Bakker fought off a first set point on his own serve, he took advantage of an Isner second serve to save another one for 6-6. Isner finally took the set on his third opportunity at 7-6 when his opponent thew in a crippling double-fault.
De Bakker faught back admirably in the second despite finding himself possibly one point from defeat. The 21-year-old Dutchman survived the only break point of the set at 1-1and eventually forced another tiebreaker.
Unlike in the previous 'breaker, Isner fell behind early by donating a service point at 1-1. The 6'9'' American got it back for 4-5 and promptly blasted two aces to set up match point at 6-5. Shaking off the nerves that were clearly visible at the end of set one, De Bakker held both of his service points for 7-6 before Isner seized another mini-break for 9-8. On his third match point, Isner fired one final first to clinch the victory.
Next up for Isner is Xavier Malisse, who took out No. 12 seed Julien Benneteau in straight sets.
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It's a bit easier to win on a tennis court when you can actually move your legs. Nothing against De Bakker of course.
cherylmurray , 8/4/10 7:57 PM
I support all of the American players, but I feel that both Isner and Querrey have a decided advantage, due to their height, over the other players, whereby they are helped by their extra inches when it comes to serving. Their height gives them the advantage of placement of their serves, and it's why they will win most ofd the tie breaks. In order to win, the opposition needs to break the giants' serve, and then hold onto their own. I felt the same about Karlovic and DelPotro. I think these giants belong in another league -- ATP's League of the Giants.
Von , 8/4/10 9:51 PM
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"It wasn't like a revenge factor at all. I treated it like any other match. Tonight it wasn't pretty out there. The only thing that kept me in the match was the way I competed. Not much was working right. Probably just the way I compete [got me through]. More times than not you're not going to play your best out there."
RickyDimon , 8/4/10 7:39 PM