Isner Falls to Dodig in Toronto for Second Straight First-Round Exit

August 5, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff

John Isner was bounced from the Rogers Cup in Toronto yesterday, losing his opening-round match to Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3. The highest-ranked American, Isner has now lost in the first-round of the last two tournaments following his title at the Atlanta Open to begin the Emirates Airline US Open Series.

While Isner’s serve is a real force, his return game has been very inconsistent. He picked up no break points throughout the entire match and allowed Dodig to notch points on 86 percent of his first serves.

After Isner forced a deciding third-set by winning a second-set tiebreaker, each player held serve until the sixth game swung the scales to Dodig. A key break point in the sixth game allowed Dodig to jump ahead and serve out the match.

“He’s the guy who can beat everybody, as well as a great player for many years, so I really tried to play my best,” said Dodig. “We had a tight match [last year] in Miami. Today was again a tough match for both of us. Today I was a little bit more lucky, and I’m happy to finish.”

Dodig was playing in his first match since retiring in the first round all the way back at the French Open. He broke a rib while playing in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome before that, and bounced back from injury nicely with a win over the 14th-ranked Isner.

“I was really happy to play again after two-and-a-half months and to beat Isner is a great win for me, for sure,” said Dodig. “I have to continue on the right way.”

Dodig will now play the winner of Italian Andreas Seppi and Brayden Schnur of Canada, who face off today in the first-round.

Isner, who was not made available to reporters after the match, looked like he was poised to make a run at the top 10 rankings following his victory in Atlanta two weeks ago. He has lost his last two matches since that, however, and will see his ranking descend going into next week.

Despite Isner’s loss, two other Americans advanced into the second-round at Toronto on Monday. Tim Smyczek knocked off German Tobias Kamke 6-3, 6-2 while Michael Russell cruised past Nicolas Mahut of France 6-3, 6-3.

Smyczek will take on Spaniard Feliciano Lopez while Russell meets Spaniard David Ferrer in the following round.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Century
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