Germany’s Frank Moser helped to distinguish himself from his doubles partner, Matthias Bachinger, by having his nickname “Franky” placed on the back of his shirt. The crowd was heavily behind their American opponents, Harrison and Young, but there were still plenty of “Let’s go, Franky!” from the stands. Moser and Bachinger beat the American pair 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-6.
In Other Doubles News
In probably the upset of the day, defending champions Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram lost to the American wildcard team of David Bernstein and Kevin King 7-6(3), 6-3. Richard Berankis, with doubles partner Xavier Malisse, was able to exact revenge on taking out Nicolas Mahut, who beat him in the first round in singles. Berankis and Malisse defeated Mahut and his partner Gilles Muller 4-6, 6-4, 10-5.
Career Year
Kevin Anderson, last year’s semifinalist, used his serve to maximum effect to defeat last year’s quarterfinals Michael Russell 6-1, 7-5. Russell defended very well during the match and tried to come to net to end points quickly, but Anderson’s deep groundstrokes kept Russell at the back of the court for most of the match. Anderson is having a career year with his first ever singles title at Johannesburg and is now in his sixth quarterfinal of the year.
Back in Action
Robby Ginepri, who has been out with an elbow injury, played well for his first ATP tournament since last year’s US Open. Ginepri started off the match well, but started to fade in the third set. Muller only had two break points in the entire match, but he took advantage of both chances in the third set. He served very effectively in the third set and closed out the match quickly 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-2.
Neighborly Fun
Isner and Blake practiced on neighboring courts before their second round match. During their practice sessions, Blake accidentally hit a ball onto Isner’s court which started a short back and forth exchange of balls between their courts. They started joking around with each other, and it was hard to tell that they would be competing on opposite ends of the court later that evening.
Costly Error
The match between Isner and Blake was very close with both dominating on serve, which resulted in there not being many long rallies during most of the match. Blake, at 31, moved slower than during his prime years, and his groundstrokes were not as powerful, but he still showed flashes of how he reached number four in the world with his return of serve. At 5-all in the third set, it looked like the match would end in another tiebreak, but Blake hit a costly double fault while serving up 40-15. He went on to lose the next three points and then Isner served out the match to win 7-6(8), 6-7(3), 7-5 in two hours and 50 minutes. Blake was the better player overall, but those few errors in his last service game cost him the match. This was the first meeting between Isner and Blake, but Isner said that they practice together many times in Tampa, Florida, where they both live and train.
Sigh of Relief
During the on-court post-match interview, Isner said that he made a bet with Blake yesterday. If Isner won, Blake would buy him dinner, but if Blake won then Isner would buy dinner for everyone in the stadium. Isner said he thought about that bet while serving at 4-5 down in the third set and was happy he did not have to burn a hole in his wallet.
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