[SapELee]

Isner back in the frame for USA

Schedule

Friday
R1: Sam Querrey (USA) v Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)
R2: John Isner (USA) v Thiago Alves (BRA)

Saturday
R3: Bob Bryan/ Mike Bryan (USA) v Marcelo Melo/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Sunday
R4: John Isner (USA) v Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)
R5: Sam Querrey (USA) v Thiago Alves (BRA)


Livescore: http://live.daviscup.com/livescore.a...019459&lang=en

[SapELee]

63 76 63 USA leads 2-0

[SapELee]

Lost 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7) 4-6 6-3 to Bellucci

It is what it is.

[SapELee]

San Jose

(1)Milos Raonic (CAN) bye
Michael Russell (USA) vs (q)
Benjamin Becker (GER) vs Ryan Harrison (USA)
(q) vs (6)Denis Istomin (UZB)

(3)Sam Querrey (USA) bye
Blaz Kavcic (SLO) vs Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
Flavio Cipolla (ITA) vs Alejandro Falla (COL)
(WC)Jack Sock (USA) vs (7)Marinko Matosevic (AUS)

(5)Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs (q)
Ivo Karlovic (CRO) vs (WC)Steve Johnson (USA)
Jesse Levine (CAN) vs (WC)Bradley Klahn (USA)
(4)Tommy Haas (GER) bye

(8)Xavier Malisse (BEL) vs Go Soeda (JPN)
Matthew Ebden (AUS) vs (q)
Vasek Pospisil (CAN) vs Evgeny Donskoy (RUS)
(2)John Isner (USA) bye

[Sonja1989]

Pretty good draw IMO. Good luck!

[SapELee]

Isner Gains Attention Through Success

For awhile, American John Isner was best known for playing the longest tennis match in history.

Lately, he’s making people take notice of him much more.

Isner beat Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010 in a match that spanned two days and took 11 hours, five minutes to ultimately complete. Without a tiebreaker in the fifth set, Isner didn’t finally pull it out until winning 70-68.

It was a stunning development, unlike anything the tennis community had ever seen. And for good reason, Isner and Mahut received a lot of publicity in its aftermath.

Truth be told, Isner was an unknown at the time to anyone other than the hardcore tennis fan. But that is changing. The 6-foot-9 Greensboro, N.C. native with the huge serve is moving his way up the Emeritus ATP rankings after a huge 2012. Isner enters this month’s SAP Open at HP Pavilion in San Jose ranked 16th in the world. And with last year’s retirement of Andy Roddick, Isner is the United States’ top-ranked player.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to achieve, and I did, which was cool for me,” Isner said. “It is what it is. I haven’t felt any pressure. I know if I’m going to try to keep that spot, I’m going to have to play very, very well this year.”

Isner’s career highlights started expanding past his historic match with Mahut last year, when he upset Roger Federer in a Davis Cup first-round match in Switzerland in February. Then in March, he reached the finals at Indian Wells after dispatching No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. He spent 18 weeks in the top-10, reaching a high of No. 9 in April.

“It was a very good year for me, for sure,” Isner said. “I would like to be more consistent. I was happy about my year in 2012 certainly, but hope I can obviously do better in 2013.”

Isner’s 2013 got off to a bit of a rocky start. He had to pull out of last month’s Australian Open with bone bruising in his knee, but says he is “close to 100 percent, if not 100 percent.” He will face a strong field at the last SAP Open to be played in the Bay Area – the singles draw features seven of the top-30 players in the world, including two-time defending champion and No. 15 Milos Raonic, No. 20 Sam Querrey, No. 22 Tommy Haas, No. 23 Alexandr Dolgopolov, No. 24 Fernando Verdasco and No. 29 Kevin Anderson.

This will be Isner’s third appearance at the SAP Open. His best finish was in the quarterfinals in 2008.

“It’s a phenomenal field this year,” Isner said. “(Seven) players in the top 30 and for an ATP 250 it’s a very good field. Level of competition is going to be very good and certainly there’s going to be some solid tennis played out there. Hopefully, we can send this tournament off with a lot of good matches and an exciting final.”

Isner obviously is a different player than what Northern California tennis fans saw at his last SAP Open appearance in 2009. Isner, who will be the No. 2 seed this time, is now expected to go deep into tournaments and shoulders a large chunk of the hope of American tennis.

“When I play those guys that are normally ranked higher than me, those are the matches that I play this game for,” Isner said. “When I play these guys next time, whether it’s this year or the following year, I’ll take that belief to the court because I have done it before and I really believe I can do it.”

http://www.sapopentennis.com/news/News.asp?story_id=501

[SapELee]

John will be playing doubles with Ryan Harrison tonight. With his conditions, I don't think he should be playing too much. But good luck though.

[SapELee]

Malisse or Ebden next.

[SapELee]

Beat Malisse 76(8) 62, will play Haas next.

[SapELee]

Delray Beach

John Isner [1] - Jesse Levine
Marinko Matosevic - Go Soeda
Yen-Hsun Lu - Qualifier/SE
Kevin Anderson [6] - Qualifier/SE

Kei Nishikori [4] - Ivo Karlovic
Flacio Cipolla - Edouard Roger-Vasselin
Jack Sock [WC] - Qualifier/SE
Feliciano Lopez [7] - Bjorn Phau

Xavier Malisse [8] - Alejandro Falla
Ryan Harrison - Qualifier/SE
James Blake [WC] - Qualifier/SE
Sam Querrey [3] - Michael Russell

Alexandr Dolgopolov [5] - Ivan Dodig
Evgeny Donskoy - Steve Darcis
Denis Istomin - Benjamin Becker
Toomy Haas [2] - Igor Sijsling

http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/499/mds.pdf

I hope he can turn things around soon.

[Chaos Inc.]

Solid job against Anderson.




Better times dead ahead..

[SapELee]

good luck against ERV

[SapELee]

IW finalist points to defend

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg

Last year's finalist John Isner will have to get past Federer and into the quarterfinals to stay American No1. Tough ask. #BNPPO13

[SapELee]

will open against either Hewitt or Rosol

[SapELee]

Miami: 1st round bye, then Dodig/Lacko. Good luck.

Full Draw: http://www.sonyopentennis.com/Share/...r=2013&Draw=ms