Tennis Announcer. Andy Taylor. The Voice of the US Open
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Mischa Zverev def John Isner 64 63 76(5)
There is a Zverev into the Round of 16 at the 2017 US Open, and it’s not the #6 Player in the World. Sascha fell in Round-2 to Croatia’s Borna Coric. Big brother Mischa delivered his 3rd consecutive win over top-ranked American John Isner to reach Flushing’s 4th-Round for the first time.
It’s been a hell of a year for Mischa. In Melbourne, he upset World #1 Andy Murray to reach his first Grand Slam Quarterfinal. He went on to play in his second career Final in Geneva, was a Semifinalist in Stuttgart, reached the 3rd-Round at Wimbledon, and in July, cracked the ATP World Tour’s top-25. Last year, he became the first player in ATP-history to qualify into the main-draw at 10 seperate Tour-Level events. Now a top-30 player, he’s finally enjoying direct-entry, avoiding the grueling grind of qualies.
Mischa has spent a lot of time on court since Monday. In his opener, he took 3.5-hours to knock-out American Thai-Son Kwiatkowski in five-sets. On Wednesday, he bested Benoit Paire in a 3-hour 9-minute affair. Friday night, his trademark serve-and-volley aggression overtook Isner in just 2-hours.
A busy Summer didn’t help Isner
To state the obvious: Tough result for Isner. But John was banged-up coming into the match. He hopped on the US Open Series train this Summer and earned his 4th consecutive title in Atlanta. A week earlier, he won the title in Newport. While he fell early in Montreal, Isner regrouped to reach the Semifinals in Cincinnati, then played in Winston-Salem a week before the Open.
That’s a lot of tennis; a lot of strain on a 6’10” frame, and his shoulder was feeling it Friday night. He looked a little better after a medical timeout in the middle of set-2, but his cannon was out of ammo by the 3rd-set tie-break. Davis Cup teammate Sam Querrey gets Mischa Zverev next.
