Americans Isner and Johnson Into Melbourne Third Round

John Isner fired 28 aces and was nearly automatic (91 percent) on his first serve points to move past Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 and advance into the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday.

In a match that did not see many return points won, Isner was just a bit better with his serve than the Austrian. The 28 aces were part of 64 winners Isner hit and he kept his mistakes to a minimum with just 25 unforced errors.

Isner moves on and will play Luxemburg’s Gilles Muller who upended 13th seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6, 6-1. Muller actually lost more points in the match than Bautista-Agut, but committed just six unforced errors to advance.

American Steve Johnson looked impressive in defeating 30th-seeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Johnson fired 17 aces and picked up at least one break point in each set to cruise in under two hours.

He faces a tall task in the third-round, though, when he goes up against fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan.

Nishikori fought off a bad first set to push through with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 7-6(0) victory over Croatia’s Ivan Dodig. The fifth-seeded Nishikori lost two of his first three service games in the opening set before storming back for the win, hitting 52 winners to 26 unforced errors.

“I thought he was playing really well, especially the first couple sets,” said Nishikori. “He was really aggressive, returning well, and I was struggling [with] my service game especially. But the end of the third and fourth set I started playing more aggressive and better tennis. I thought it was a great match for both of us.”

The biggest upset on the men’s side Thursday came late as Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz won the final two sets to oust 17th seeded Gael Monfils 6-4, 1-6, 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3. Janowicz hit 70 winners and 53 unforced errors as he was extremely aggressive in going for his shots. He got a key break in the fifth-set which allowed him to use his big serve and close it out.

Janowicz has reached the third-round in Melbourne each time he has competed at the Australian Open. He will look to improve on that and reach the fourth-round when he takes on 12th seeded Feliciano Lopez.

The Spaniard advanced after Adrian Mannarino of France was forced to retire in the fourth-set.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez also advanced on Thursday with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 win over Colombia’s Alejandro Gonzalez. Garcia-Lopez will take on Canadian Vasek Pospisil who knocked off Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-4.

Click here for all the results from Day Four at the Australian Open.