Isner to Face Mahut in Second Round of Hall of Fame Tennis Championships

In the second day of action at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I., all top three seeds advanced to the second round, including defending champion, John Isner. Isner beat qualifier Sergei Bubka of the Ukraine, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 to secure another match with Frenchman Nicolas Mahut. Isner and Mahut took part in the longest match in the history of the sport, an 11 hours, 5 minute match that spanned three days at Wimbledon in 2010.

"We can’t avoid each other on grass," said Isner on his matchup with Mahut.

Isner relied on his big serves to win the opening match. He won the match on a powerful serve that Bubka was barely able to reach. Earlier on, Isner struggled to hold serve in the final set, but the crowd became louder and helped him pick up momentum.

At last year’s Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, both Isner and Mahut visited with fans in the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum, where they had donated the racquets and other memorabilia from their famous 2010 Wimbledon faceoff. Their historic match finished with Isner winning 70-68 in the fifth set. This will be Isner and Mahut’s fourth time playing each other on a grass court.

The tournament’s two and three seeds, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic, were also triumphant in round one action. Nishikori, who is Japan’s highest ranked player ever, defeated Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4. Nishikori recently advanced to the third round of Wimbledon and is currently ranked 18th on the ATP World Tour. The third-seeded Canadian Raonic defeated Matthew Ebden of Australia, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.   

Qualifiers of the tournament, Tim Smyczek, Benjamin Baker and Izak Van Der Merwe, pulled off upsets to advance to the second round.  Smyczek defeated the number four seed, Denis Istomin, 6-3 6-3. Baker defeated top-60 player David Goffin, 6-4 6-3; and Van Der Merwe was victorious over the number eight seed, Gilles Muller, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-4.

Sam Querrey defeated the number five seed, Russian Olympian Alex Bogomolov Jr., 7-5, 7-6(5).  Querrey, who was a runner-up in Newport in 2009, is continuing his comeback after elbow surgery last year.