Isner Moves on to the Quarters of the BB&T Atlanta Open
Top seed and two-time finalist John Isner defeated 19-year-old Christian Harrison to advance to the quarterfinals of the BB&T Atlanta Open after closing out a 7-6(9), 4-6, 7-5 win. Isner, who served 29 aces and won 109 points to Christian’s 110, clinched his lone break in the second to last game. Christian made his ATP World Tour singles debut on Wednesday with a win over Alejandro Falla.
"I thought he played pretty well," said Isner. "He’s a very good player. I was very fortunate just to win. You never really want to win 7-5 in the third, two-and-a-half hours in humid, muggy conditions like this, but I’ll take it."
Harrison’s brother Ryan advanced to the quarters with a 6-4, 6-3 win over the number four seed Igor Sijsling. Ryan last reached a tour-level quarterfinal in January when he defeated Isner in the second round of the Apia International Sydney. Ryan Harrison advances to face Santiago Giraldo, who held a 5-7, 6-3, 3-0 lead when American Michael Russell was forced to retire due to illness.
American James Blake reached his first quarterfinal of the season after defeating eighth-seeded Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 6-2. Blake, a former world number four, broke Donskoy’s serve three times while saving all four break points saved. Also in second-round action, second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson rallied past Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2. He will next play Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin, who defeated fifth seed Yen-Hsun Lu 7-5, 6-2.
