Day 3 Recap: Isner Battles Past Doubles Partner and Friend
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| Day 3 Recap:
Isner Battles Past Doubles Partner and Friend Day 3 at the Atlanta Tennis Championships is now complete and four players have secured their spot in the quarterfinals. Today’s featured match showcased two of the top American players on the ATP World Tour with the third seed John Isner facing-off against friend and doubles partner James Blake. The match was an instant classic with Isner winning 7-5 in the decisive third set. The two played an incredibly close first set with neither player having many opportunities to break. In the tiebreaker, Isner was able to use his serve to take the set winning 10-8 in the tiebreaker. After securing a break early in the second set and racing out to an early 4-1 lead, Isner seemed to have the match within reach. However, Blake stormed back hitting dazzling passing shots, to break Isner and eventually taking the set in a tiebreak. Both player’s served big and used their powerful attacking games to dictate points. The match was decided by which player had the higher consistency and could come up with a big shot on the pressure points. In the end, despite Blake’s best efforts, Isner was able to triumph over his friend and doubles partner 7-6, 6-7, 7-5. The two players are incredibly close friends and in a press conference earlier in the week, Isner told reporters that he and Blake actually live about a half a mile away from each other and he drives his golf cart to Blake’s house to practice multiple times a week. There are no secrets on the court between the two. Both player’s know their opponents games and the match would be determined by which player was able to execute the best on that particular day. However, Isner was able to benefit from the packed Stadium Court of Georgia faithful cheering him on and giving him the edge to come through in the end. Today, Isner was able to get the upper hand, but the two will return on court together as doubles partners tomorrow night. Following the featured singles match was a doubles matchup highlighting last year’s doubles champions and top seed in the 2011 Atlanta Tennis Championships, Rajeev Ram and Scott Lipsky. The two played the wild card combo of Georgia’s Drake Bernstein and Georgia Tech’s Kevin King. The duo from rival universities paired together for the first time, playing in front of the two university’s fan bases. The Georgia crowd carried the momentum from Isner’s win earlier in the evening and the Georgia Tech fans pouring in to watch King play. In an unusual situation, the two sides were both cheering for the same team. Despite the crowd advantage, the top seeds proved to be too experience for the two college players, winning ________________- Also in action today was the second seeded, Kevin Anderson from South Africa who played American Michael Russell. After winning his first round match over Atlanta’s Donaly Young in straight sets, Russell came out slow in the first set losing 6-1. He regained his form in the second set jumping out to an early 2-0 lead. However, Anderson was able to respond and rally back to win the set 7-5. After an emotional first round comeback victory against former World No. 2, Atlanta native, Robby Ginepri fell short in his comeback to the ATP World Tour against Gilles Muller. The Luxembourgish player upset seventh seeded American Alex Bogomolov Jr in the first round and continued his sharp play against Ginepri. Though Ginepri was able to rally behind the crowd’s support to comeback and take the second set, Muller proved too much in the third set breaking Ginepri twice and winning the decisive set 6-2. Directory: ustaassets -> assets -> 669 669 -> Atlanta tennis championships selects atlantic station as site in multi-year deal 669 -> Baghdatis joins stellar field at atlanta tennis championships 669 -> Usta southern 669 -> The semifinals of the 2011 Atlanta Tennis Championships are now set 669 -> Bulldog Fans Pull Isner Through Another Dogged Effort By Ron Cioffi/BB&t atlanta Open assets -> Policy on Residency for Junior Division Closed Tournaments and State Ranking Purpose Download 5.94 Kb. Share with your friends:
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