NEWPORT, R.I. — Top seed and defending champion John Isner beat qualifier Sergei Bubka of the Ukraine 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3 in an opening-round match at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Tuesday. NEWPORT, R.I. — Top seed and
NEWPORT, R.I. — Top seed and defending champion John Isner beat qualifier Sergei Bubka of the Ukraine 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3 in an opening-round match at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
Isner, ranked 11th in the world entering the week and a U.S. Olympian, relied on his overpowering serve despite playing lethargically at times.
Second-seeded Kei Nishikori, Japan’s top player and the highest ranked player ever from his country, also won his opening match, defeating Igor Sijsling from The Netherlands 6-4, 6-4.
Isner is slated to face Nicolas Mahut in a second round match. The pair met in the longest match in tennis history — 11 hours, 5 minutes before Isner’s 70-68 fifth-set victory in 2010 at Wimbledon.
In other first-round play, third-seed Canadian Milos Raonic rallied past Matthew Ebden of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; American Sam Querrey, continuing his comeback from elbow surgery last year, ousted No. 5 seed and Russian Olympian Alex Bogomolov Jr. 7-5, 7-6 (5); American Tim Smyczek beat No. 4 seed Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3; and 2009 Newport champion Rajeev Ram easily got past Grega Zemlja 6-3, 6-1.
Qualifier Benjamin Becker defeated David Goffin 6-4, 6-3; Izak Van Der Merwe outlasted eighth-seeded Gilles Muller 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-4; and Jesse Levine beat Marinko Matosevic 6-2, 7-6 (8). Former No. 1 in the world and Australian Olympian Lleyton Hewitt coasted by Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-1, 6-1.
Querrey, a runner-up in 2009 at Newport, feels like his game is gaining momentum after the injury to his right elbow. He reached No. 17 in the world last year.
Gibbs to meet Williams
at Bank of the West
STANFORD, Calif. — Nicole Gibbs, a junior at Stanford, said she has never played better in her life. Now she gets to play the match of her life.
Gibbs, a wild card, beat Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic on Tuesday. She faces top-seeded and Wimbledon champion Serena Williams in today’s second round.
In other matches, eighth-seeded Marina Erakovic of New Zealand topped Slovakian and 2011 NCAA champion Jana Juricova, 6-2, 6-2; Urszula Radwanska of Poland downed Eleni Daniilidou of Greece, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; qualifier Erika Sema of Japan defeated American Alexa Glatch, 6-2, 6-3; and Saisai Zheng of China advanced when Japan’s Ayumi Morita retired with a lower back injury.
Ferrero loses in 1st
round at Croatia Open
UMAG, Croatia — Croatian wild card Mate Pavic upset sixth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero in the first round of the Croatia Open on Tuesday, beating the former champion 6-2, 6-2.
The 19-year-old Pavic saved all four break points he faced and converted four out of the six he earned.
In another upset, American Wayne Odesnik beat eighth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-5.
Fabio Fognini of Italy, Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia and Marco Trungelliti of Argentina also advanced.
Lukas Rosol beats Robin Haase at Mercedes Cup
STUTTGART, Germany — Big-serving Lukas Rosol, who stunned Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, beat fifth-seeded Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-4, 7-5 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Mercedes Cup.
Rosol beat the Spanish star in the second round at the All England Club earlier this month, but despite that win, the Czech actually dropped three places to No. 103 in the ATP rankings.
Rosol served 12 aces and won 91 percent of his first-serve points against Haase.
Germany’s Tommy Haas, the eighth seed, rallied to beat Igor Andreev of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, and countryman Cedrik-Marcel Stebe upset seventh-seeded Lubosz Kubot of Poland 6-2, 0-6, 6-3. Kubot served 10 double-faults.
Also moving into the second round were Bjorn Phau of Germany, Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, Benoit Paire of France, Tobias Kamke of Germany, Pavol Cervenak of Slovakia and Jeremy Chardy of France.
