Top Seed Isner Slips Past Ginepri; Anderson Upset by De Bakker

July 25, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff

John Isner had to rally back from a set down to escape an upset bid by fellow American Robby Ginepri on Thursday. The top-seeded Isner fought back to defeat Ginepri 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 to move into the quarterfinals of the BB&T Atlanta Open.

Both players have local ties to Atlanta, as Ginepri is a native of Kennesaw and Isner was a standout at the University of Georgia, and put on an exciting match that lasted nearly two and a half hours.

Ginepri took the early advantage by capturing the first set thanks to a key break point. Isner ripped eight aces in the opening frame but lost a crucial service game which tipped the scales to Ginepri.

Isner responded nicely in the second set, ripping nine aces and saving two breakpoints. He would clinch the set in a tiebreaker to force the match to a deciding third frame. Ginepri held a 5-4 advantage but was unable to close Isner out as the top-seed fought off two match points to force it into a tiebreaker.

In the tiebreak, Isner would notch his only break point of the match which enabled him to serve out the match which he did by smashing four straight aces to avoid the upset.

“This is the fifth year of this tournament, and three times 7-5 in the third,” said Isner, referring to his history of tight matches in Atlanta. “It’s not easy coming in and playing your first match on a hard court in a while. I honestly didn’t want to play Robby because he’s a good friend, and I knew one of us was going to lose.”

The 6’10 Isner ripped 40 aces throughout the match which proved to be too much for the wild-card entry Ginepri. The 12th ranked player in the world will face Marinko Matosevic of Australia after Matosevic knocked off American Tim Smyczek on Thursday.

Unlike Isner, second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson was unable to avoid being bit by the upset bug. Anderson could not get by the Dutch qualifier Thiemo de Bakker who advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 victory.

Anderson, who lost in last year’s final to Isner, struggled with his serve and allowed Bakker 13 break point chances.

“I didn’t feel like my normal serve out there,” said Anderson. “I felt a step behind the whole match. I thought [De Bakker] played well, hit the ball quite big. I was disappointed with how I played today.”

De Bakker was able to pick up three of those break point chances and had an effective first serve which helped him pick up 80 percent of his first serve points. The Dutch qualifier actually retired from his qualifying match before the tournament started, but was able to get in the field as a lucky loser.

“It proves that I can play against [the top players],” said De Bakker. “My goal is to play them more and more often and also to improve my level of play.”

He now advances to play German Benjamin Becker for a spot in the semifinals. Becker knocked off seventh-seeded Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-3 to advance on Thursday.

The final eight is now all set in Atlanta with two Americans still remaining in the field. The four quarterfinal matches will be played today which will narrow the field down to four before day’s end.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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