John Isner needed 33 aces and two-and-a-half hours, outlasting Gilles Muller at the Atlanta Tennis Championships as the American registered his first win since making history at Wimbledon.
Marathon man Isner beat an inspired Muller 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (9/7) on Wednesday, lifting his career record in final-set tiebreakers to 16-5.
“I didn’t want to let the fans down,” Isner said. “I didn’t want to lose my first match here. I had a lot of friends and family here, so I didn’t want to go out early. I felt I was shedding the rust off in the second and third sets. I will only keep getting better. This was one of the biggest wins of the year.”
PHOTO: AFP
Muller, ranked 206, turned in a miracle performance for a player who missed the last half of last year with injury and was playing in only his second event at the ATP level after Queen’s last month. The outsider fired 29 aces, just four less than Isner.
Isner, who is seeded second, won the longest match in tennis history last month at Wimbledon, 70-68 in the fifth set over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, who has forever lost his label of anonymity after the 11-hour epic over three days, but Isner doesn’t want to live in the past after discussing his huge victory for weeks now.
“I’m ranked in the top 20, I think I can still improve and keep climbing,” the No. 19 said. “My goal is to reach the top 10 and contend at the really big events.”
Taylor Dent of the US reached his first quarter-final in half a decade, staging a comeback to upset fourth seed Horacio Zeballos 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.
Dent, 29, who is 94th-ranked in the world, is slowly rebuilding his career after back surgery several seasons ago.
His progress so far is his best since coming back to tennis in late 2008. He advanced past a second round for the first time this season.
Michael Russell of the US won a battle of the oldest players in the field as the 32-year-old staged a comeback over German Rainer Schuettler, 34, to advance 1-6, 6-2, 7-5.
■GERMAN OPEN
AP, HAMBURG, GERMANY
Third-seeded Juergen Melzer of Austria beat Argentina’s Eduardo Schwank in straight sets at the German Open on Wednesday, but five other seeded players were eliminated in second-round action.
Melzer, who was a semi-finalist at the French Open and has won 14 of his last 19 matches, won 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the third round.
Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan edged fifth-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (9/7), while qualifier Pere Riba outlasted fellow Spaniard and eighth-seeded Albert Montanes 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7/4).
Andreas Seppi of Italy defeated No. 16-seeded Michael Berrer of Germany 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).
Wild-card Julian Reister of Germany beat 12th-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 and Jeremy Chardy of France defeated 13th-seeded German and Wimbledon doubles champion Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-3.
Two other seeded players needed three sets to get through to the third round.
No. 7 seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil beat qualifier Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 and 10th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany rallied to defeat Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
■GASTEIN LADIES
AP, BAD GASTEIN, AUSTRIA
Second-seeded Timea Bacsinszky rallied to beat Belarus qualifier Ekaterina Dzehalevich 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Gastein Ladies quarter-finals on Wednesday.
It will be the Swiss player’s second quarter-finals of the season after Barcelona in April.
Bacsinszky will play Sandra Zahlavova for a place in the semi-finals. The Czech defeated Ukrainian Lesya Tsurenko 6-2, 6-4.
No. 8 seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia also advanced after Simona Halep of Romania pulled out with a right shoulder injury when Sevastova led 5-7, 6-1, 5-0.
Sevastova next plays a former Gastein Ladies finalist — either Yvonne Meusburger (2007) or Lucie Hradecka (2008).
Anastasia Pivovarova of Russia defeated Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 after rallying from a break down in the decider three times.
Olaru, who lost last year’s final to Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, served 13 double-faults. Pivovarova hit 12.
■SLOVENIA OPEN
AP, PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA
Fourth-seeded Sara Errani was upset in straight sets by Anna Chakvetadze of Russia in the second round of the Slovenia Open on Wednesday.
Chakvetadze eased to a 6-1, 6-2 win against the Italian and will face compatriot Vera Dushevina in the quarter-finals. Dushevina rallied to beat Virginie Razzano of France 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele set up a last-eight match against seventh-seeded Polona Hercog of Slovenia by beating 2006 champion Tamira Paszek 7-5, 6-4.
Voegele clinched the first set after breaking wild-card Paszek in the 11th game. Paszek recovered from 2-4 down in the second set to draw level at 4-4, but Voegele won the next two games.
Hercog defeated compatriot Katarina Srebotnik 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.
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