Tennis Atlantic

Isner survives Bemelmans, Fish retires, Ebden and Sock advances

Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com
 
John Isner started off ice-cold against a tenacious Ruben Bemelmans, dropping the 1st set 6-4 and having more than his fair share of shank and junk hits, long, into the net, and even out of the stadium. He recovered and managed to eke out a win, taking the 2nd set 6-3 and the 3rd set, which was delayed over 20 minutes because the far right light went out on stadium court,  6-4.  Isner served acceptably, as Bemelmans was still adjusting to his pace but had to adjust his strategy to compensate for Bemelmans slicing and dicing style of play. In the end, Bemelmans went for too much and couldn’t pull it out.  He plays hard though and is also a very positive guy. He even did the wave with the crowd as the light was being fixed.
 
Mardy Fish wasn’t nearly as lucky against Gilles Muller. An unfortunate run-in with the netpost meant that he was forced to retire up 6-4, 3-2 on Muller and he was actually playing well. Fish went hard for a drop shot near the edge of the net, and in order to avoid impaling himself on the netpost, he slid and rolled his ankle badly in the process, putting him on his back for about three minutes. He was then bent over and limping for the remaining 4 or so points he played before finally having to retire. He was later seen in a lot of pain after the match.

 
 
James Blake was good early against Matt Ebden, but felt pain again, and Ebden would advance 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. It was a tight match all the way through, with Ebden struggling with his unforced errors but serving well. Blake was playing great tennis at the net but it appeared that his shoulder began to bother him again in the 2nd and 3rd set. While he was able to finish the match after multiple medical timeouts, he was visibly grimacing on court and exited holding his shoulder.

 
Jack Sock played some thrilling points against fellow American young gun Steve Johnson,  winning his match in 2 tiebreaks 7-6, 7-6. The very audible Sock did plenty of shouting, fist pumping and other such emotional actions throughout a match that featured a lot of lobbing, drop shotting and rallying. This will be his first ATP quarterfinal.
 
In doubles action, all but the top seed of Fleming and Hutchins (who survived being a break down in the 1st set against Nicolas Mahut and Lukas Dlouhy winning 7-6, 6-2) were eliminated in a day of upsets. 2 seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Scott Lipsky fell to Raven Klaasen and Donald Young 6-2, 7-6, unable to chip into their advantage.  3 seeds Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot lost to best buds Ebden and Harrison 6-3, 7-5 and 4 seeds Ken Skupski and Jamie Delgado lost to vets Malisse and Russell (X-Man and Muscles) 7-6, 6-4 with both Malisse and Russell (who is in the quarterfinals in singles here) serving great. Kevin Anderson and Rik De Voest beat Paolo Lorenzi and Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6-7, 10-6 and Colin Ebelthite and Marinko Matosevic beat the UGA/GA Tech combo of Ignacio Taboada and Kevin King 7-5, 7-5 in late action.
 
On one other note, there was a US Olympic tennis team “send off” on stadium court before the Isner/Bemelmans match, featuring former Olympic star and professional boxer Evander Holyfield and tournament director Bob Bryant along with a men’s choir performing the national anthem. While Olympians Isner, Young and Harrison were in attendance, Andy Roddick decided to skip.