It was a good day for the American men, at least what was left after the first round with both John Isner and Sam Querrey winning their matches in straight sets.
And Isner’s opponent Jan-Lennard Struff, may have had a feeling that would happen when he wore an American Flag in his shirt.
“I don’t know what that is,” Isner said “Maybe he was trying to get some crowd support. Luckily they stayed on my side.”
Isner, looked strong out there winning 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 and turned the match totally in his favor after breaking Struff in the second set.
“Really the conditions were, as far as weather goes, perfect,” Isner said. “Wasn’t humid like it was yesterday. Wasn’t hot. It was a bit windy, which made it tough. Really the match turned at that 4-All game in the second set. You know, I finally was able to break through, and I kind of broke the match wide open. You know, I did what I have done a lot of times, you know, winning a tiebreaker in the first set. It was crucial. It was very close. I won that and it gave me some momentum. I was able to take it in straight sets after that.”
More importantly, Querrey won in straight sets over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, to move to the next round.
“I usually play better as the tournament goes on,” Querrey said. “I felt like I played great today. Serve felt good, forehand felt good, I was making the right decisions. Hope I can keep playing like that.”
His buddy Isner looks at it another way.
“End of last year he got hurt,” Isner said. “He got hurt in Asia while I was over there with him. He was actually playing very well there and he hurt his, you know, stomach muscle. Then he had to pull out the rest of the year. You know, the tournaments after the US Open you don’t really hear too much about, but they are very big tournaments. That set him back a little bit.
“But, you know, any seasons and tournaments and really careers can sort of turn on the slightest, smallest things. Maybe he hasn’t had that much stuff sort of go his way. Some bad luck. Lost some tough matches and his confidence dipped a little bit. But it’s very encouraging to see him playing better now. You know, the way he played today I saw a little bit of it. That’s the way that — when he was top 20 in the world, that that’s the way he was playing. So he certainly has it in him, and it’s great to see him playing well. I know he may play Novak in the next round. If he can play like that, it will be a good match.”
Now it becomes interesting with Querrey getting the No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic and Isner playing Phillipp Kohlschreiber. If both win – and yes that’s a big if – they will face each other in the fourth round.
But first things first and Isner knows Kohlschreiber is no easy assignment.
“I have beaten him more times than he’s beaten me overall,” he said. “But he’s beaten me here. No matter where I play him I know the match is going to be tough because he’s an extremely good player. Very good. I thought, you know, our matches the last two years have been pretty high quality. I remember last year I wasn’t disappointed with how I played. You know, he just played better than me. Simple as that. In a few days’ time I’m just gonna have to try to be better than him.”
As for Querrey, he will take his chances with the crowd behind him.
“The crowd here seems to be pretty pro-American, so I’m sure they will be behind me,” he said. “They like the stars, too. They will be cheering for him, as well. I feel like they are going to be behind me quite a bit when we play.”
Should make for an interesting Saturday.
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