Top seed John Isner, playing for the first time since helping the US defeat Switzerland in the Davis Cup, defeated Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4) in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships on Tuesday.
Isner, ranked a career-best No. 13 in the world, overpowered Muller with 26 aces, including five in the two tiebreakers. Isner also won 96 percent of his first-serve points. The 26-year-old advances to the second round where he’ll oppose American Donald Young.
“Even though I beat Roger [Federer], it was just one match,” Isner said.
“Confidence comes from putting a string of match [wins] together. I haven’t really played that many matches. This was just my seventh match of the year,” Isner said.
Isner’s doubles partner, Sam Querrey, also advanced to the second round with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against Alejandro Falla of Colombia.
Querrey underwent right elbow surgery in June and won for only the second time this year in five matches.
His world ranking has dropped to 99th after peaking at No. 17 in January last year.
“I feel pretty close,” Querrey said of returning to match shape. “I’m missing more forehands than I usually do, but I’m just committed to stepping up and hitting it. More and more are falling [in] every day.”
In other men’s first-round matches, James Blake, participating in his first ATP Tour match since encountering knee problems late last fall, dropped a 6-0, 6-2 decision to fellow American Ryan Sweeting.
Ryan Harrison was another American to progress to the second round, beating compatriot Jack Sock 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, while Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky downed American Robert Kendrick 6-3, 7-6 (6).
In the Memphis International, the accompanying Women’s Tennis Association event, No. 2 seed Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan defeated Canada’s Rebecca Marino, a finalist in last year’s tournament, 6-2, 6-4, in first-round play.
Unseeded Varvara Lepchenko, who became a US citizen in September, upset No. 7 seed Johanna Larsson of Sweden, 6-2, 6-4, to move into the third round along with No. 5 Pauline Parmentier of France. Parmentier defeated Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
In other second-round matches, Marina Erakovic, the fourth-seeded New Zealander, was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina and Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands beat Belarus’ Olga Govortsova 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set