Tennis Atlantic

Atlanta Quarterfinals Recap: Hewitt, Harrison, Isner, Anderson Advance

Lleyton Hewitt recovered from a blitzing 6-1 first set by Ivan Dodig to beat the Croat 1-6, 6-3, 6-0. Dodig came out aggressive. His serve was scorching and mixed with accurate, punching groundstrokes. He was overpowering Hewitt and catching him on the wrong foot but after set 1, the Aussie battler would recover, staying in it and moving and serving better, as Dodig’s level began to drop steadily. Hewitt hit just 2 unforced errors in set 2, and was impeccable. Dodig held from 0-30 multiple times in the match, including in his opening serve game in set 2. Eventually, Hewitt would be the consistent and fresher player, keeping his nose ahead in set 2, and breaking for 5-3 after getting up 0-30 yet again in a Dodig service game.

Set 3 was expected to be competitive, but instead the Atlanta heat would melt yet another European player as Dodig effectively mailed it in excluding the last service game that Hewitt held from deuce to take the match. The penetrating shots that were connecting for Dodig early began to spray wildly as the match went on. His efforts to hit cuter volley shots were met with strong replies by Lleyton, who showed no signs of fatigue and who was generally subdued and going about his business throughout the match. Dodig was popping low 130s 1st serves at the start, but that would drop to mid to low 120s as the match wore on. Although that would still be formidable against many opponents, it was not daunting for a crack returner like Hewitt.

In press, Hewitt was in a positive focused mood, and says he plans to play the Citi Open in DC and then will take it from there in regards to his tournament schedule. He also mentioned that he is playing doubles with Chris Guccione this week to better prepare for upcoming Davis Cup doubles action.

John Isner will be his semifinal opponent as he dealt with James Blake 7-6, 7-6. Isner again struggled with groundstroke returns and only broke serve 1 time the entire match. He was clutch in tiebreaks, though, winning the first in dominating fashion and breaking to take the match in the 2nd tiebreak. Blake was visibly frustrated he couldn’t do enough with Isner’s serve, and though he went up a break 2-0 in the 2nd set, he couldn’t keep it. Both Isner and Blake got 0-15 and 0-30 in various return games, but almost always the server would pop a few aces and hold. Isner also has to be credited for hanging in the 2nd set. Even after going down a break and tossing his hat on the ground in frustration, he kept hitting away, and it got him back in the set. The rallies, if you could call them that, were very short and the match came down to who got more first serves in and who hit less shanked returns.

A nice moment occurred after the match, as Isner interacted with his “biggest fan”, an elementary age child named Justin who has excitedly cheered for him throughout his matches, yelling “fight fight fight Is-e-ner!” and “go John Is-e-ner!” The kid, who had already received an autograph from John earlier in the week, this time asked for his phone number on a Georgia Bulldogs cap. Isner gave it to him along with a high 5. I asked him about it in press and he says he enjoys interacting with kids and enjoys playing the BB&T Atlanta Open because he has such strong regional fan support from so many people like Justin. Justin’s friend is a big Harrison brothers fan. Her shirt says “Ryan Harrison’s Number 1 Fan”, and does her own sharing of cheering for both Ryan and Christian. Justin likes the Harrison boys too, but only if they aren’t playing his main man John.

Ryan Harrison provided some drama in his push to the semifinals, winning 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 over Santiago Giraldo. Harrison broke Giraldo at 3-1 in the 1st set, using some nifty lobs, and they both held serve easily enough until Harry bagged the first set with an ace. He found success working against Giraldo’s forehand in the opening set. In the 2nd, both guys held serve easily, until Giraldo got a break midway through. Instead of letting Harrison stand and dictate, he began moving the American to the corners of the court and pushed him off the edges so his aggressive returns would be off the back foot or on the run. It worked, and he held his way to force a 3rd set.

In the 3rd set, Giraldo took the initiative early, with sloppy play from Harrison resulting in him getting broken at love and wacking a ball onto the Interstate in disgust. Santi saved a break point the next game to hold as Harrison began going for more and trying to hit it harder. The next game, Harrison cranked a 141 serve. On the next Giraldo game, some absolutely ridiculous defensive retrieval gave the American a break back. It was very Nadal/Ferrer/Djokovic like, or at least the poor mans version. Harrison began to find fresher legs after the break back. Many times he came within 2 points of the match, but he would play poorly from that demarcation point and end up giving the games away.

Finally, they reached a tiebreak and Giraldo plainly choked it away. Harrison took an early advantage, and needed two match point to finish it off.

Harrison gets Kevin Anderson next, as Big Kev needed 3 sets to beat Denis Istomin in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 servefest. Both players won almost 70% of their service points and fired 12 aces each. Anderson was 2/7 on breakpoints and Istomin was a miserable 1/9.

Roger-Vasselin/Sijsling reached the doubles semifinals 7-6, 7-6 over Giraldo/Berankis, with much credit to Giraldo for playing 3 singles sets and 2 doubles sets basically just a few minutes apart.

—Steen Kirby