Isner, Raonic Power Into Australian Open Third Round
American John Isner fired 20 aces to move past Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-3, 7-6(6), 7-6(2) and reach the Australian Open third round.
Isner was sharp in the opening set, committing just two unforced errors, and notching the only break point at 4-3. In that first set, he got 80 percent of his first serves into play and won 80 percent of those first serve points.
The second set saw no breaks of serve and headed into a tiebreak. Granollers jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the breaker, only to see the 10th seeded American win seven of the next nine points to win the set and take a commanding two sets to love lead.
Each player held serve in the third set as well, and in the tiebreaker, Isner dominated, winning seven of the nine points to close Granollers out in straight sets.
“It wasn’t easy at all,” said Isner. “It was a very tough match. I’m just happy to get through. It’s always a pleasure to play on this court.”
In the third round, Isner will take on 18th seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who found himself in a dogfight with Argentina’s Guido Pella.
Lopez needed four hours and 31 minutes to edge Pella 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-7(8), 6-4.
Isner and Lopez have both beaten each other three times.
Canadian Milos Raonic continued his great start to 2016 by reaching the third round with a 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 7-5 over Spain’s Tommy Robredo.
The first two sets allotted not a single break point, and Raonic won both of the tiebreakers. In the third, Raonic finally broke through with a break point late in the third set to close out Robredo in straight sets.
Up next for the 13th seed is 21st seeded Serb Viktor Troicki, who knocked off American Tim Smyczek 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in his match Thursday.
23rd seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils rolled past countryman Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 6-4, 6-1 to book his spot in the third round. Monfils hit a whopping 50 winners to just 10 unforced errors, setting up a matchup with another one of his countryman, Stephane Robert.
Robert came back from two sets to one down to beat American Rajeev Ram 6-1, 6-7(6), 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
Australian Bernard Tomic defeated Italian Simone Bolelli 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5 to set up a matchup with fellow Aussie John Millman, who upset Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
The other third round matchup on the men’s side will see Israel’s Dudi Sela take on Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.
