by Lisa-Marie Burrows
In a match that will leave John Isner aching and David Nalbandian hurting, the 6’10” American won an extended five-set match marathon, fast becoming the American’s trademark – by a 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8 margin.
In an entertaining four-hour and 41-minute match, with a controversial end, Isner, seeded No. 16, fought, tussled and limped his way through to victory against an opponent he had never beaten in two previous attempts.
The baseline exchanges were exuberant and all areas of the court were used to outrun and outplay each other. The crowd was treated to outstanding groundstrokes and nail-biting service games during the penultimate stages of the fifth set.
The drama ensued at 8-8 as Isner faced three break points, which were saved after Nalbandian played a few loose backhands, however, after hitting yet another booming serve, Nalbandian attempted to challenge an Isner ace using Hawk-eye, but was denied the opportunity by umpire Kader Nouni. He overruled and would not let the Argentine challenge the call after a linesperson called it out. Nalbandian was outraged by this decision and complained to the tournament supervisor, but was unsuccessful in his plea and the overrule remained. Hawk-eye was not used to diffuse the situation.
“What is this? This is a Grand Slam,” Nalbandian said. “I don’t think it was too late to [challenge].”
Despite the long delay, Isner held serve to go up 9-8, which was the turning point of the match. The crowd was behind Isner and he was clearly fighting against his fitness and cramping, but his tough mentality and gritty determination withheld as he went on to win the match after winning a reflex volley during a rapid exchange at the net.
After his victory, Isner mimicked ripping his shirt off like Superman, demonstrating how much the win meant to him in his heroic performance. He will hope for a quick recovery, as he faces Feliciano Lopez in the third round after straightforward 7-5, 7-6, 6-2 victory against Flavio Cipolla of Italy.
Nalbandian’s compatriot, Juan-Martín Del Potro had an easier time, as he made it through against Blav Kavcic after beating him in straight sets 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. The former US Open champion will now face Yeng Sung Lu in the third round.
For the second time in two days, 13th seed, Alexandr Dologopolov, found himself serving for the match in another five-set contest lasting just over three and a quarter hours against Tobias Kamke of Germany. The Ukranian young gun eventually took it 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 3-6, 8-6 and will meet BernardTomic in the 3rd round.
World No.2 Rafael Nadal beat German veteran Tommy Haas comfortably 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to progress to the third round. He will now meet Lukas Lacko who beat American Donald Young in his match.
Roger Federer had an easy time against Andreas Beck. The German never made it out onto court, citing a back problem, giving the Swiss a walkover into round three.
Tomas Berdych, safely through against the diminutive Olivier Rochus of Belgium, 6-1, 6-0, 7-6 and will play Kevin Anderson next.
In the surprise shock of the day, Alejandro Falla of Colombia beat eighth seed, Mardy Fish, in straight sets 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 setting up a meeting with Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany next.
Lisa-Marie Burrows is a qualified LTA Community Tennis Coach from England and a trainee sports journalist, in the final stages of completion of her course, enabling her to put her passion and enthusiasm for tennis into words and write articles about the events on the WTA and ATP Tours. She has taken great pleasure in traveling across Europe to watch tennis and cover the events, most recently the Davis Cup tie between Spain and France and the Valencia Open 500 tournament. Lisa-Marie is a member of the International Press Association and a contributing journalist for its online magazine, IMPress. She has contributed articles for various leading websites including www.tennisscoop.co.uk,www.olympictennis.net and most recently for www.tennisgrandstand,com andwww.worldtennismagazine.com. Lisa-Marie operates her tennis website called Tennis News and Views where you can read her reports and updates for the latest tennis information and keep up to date with the news on Twitter @TennisNewsViews.