Defending Champ John Isner cruises into Second Round, Day 2 Order of Play features Querrey, Hewitt, Ram

Written by: Staff on 8th July 2013

Defending Champ John Isner cruises into Second Round, Day 2 Order of Play features Querrey, Hewitt, Ram |

Photo: Kate Whitney Lucey

NEWPORT, R.I., July 8, 2013 –

Two top Americans went head-to-head in the season opener for the U.S. summer swing of ATP World Tour tennis today, with No. 1 American John Isner overcoming Ryan Harrison in the 1st Round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships. The victory extends Isner’s winning streak at Newport to 11 matches, as he was the champion in both 2012 and 2011. In the next round, he’ll face Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who defeated 2002 finalist James Blake today, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.

In the first match of the day at Newport, fans were treated to a dramatic match between 15-year-old wild card Stefan Kozlov and world No. 113 Michal Przysiezny of Poland, who is No. 113 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Przysiezny advanced to the next round with a 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-4 win over Kozlov in two hours and 29 minutes. “Normally you cannot practice with a guy who is 15, but here I almost lost the match. He’s great for his age,” said the 29-year-old Przysiezny.

Round 1 at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships continues with matches beginning at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Seven of the top eight seeds are in play tomorrow. In the opening match on Center Court, No. 6 seed Marinko Matosevic of Australia takes on young American Jack Sock, who reached the second round here last year in his debut, and is ranked a career-high No. 84 this week after winning his second career Challenger title in Winnetka, Illinois on Saturday.

In the second match on Center Court, No. 1 seed Sam Querrey, who reached the Newport final in 2009, meets countryman Tim Smyczek.

The third match on Center Court will be an all-Aussie showdown when Matthew Ebden, a singles quarterfinalist here two years ago and 2011 doubles champion, meets No. 4 seed and last year’s finalist Lleyton Hewitt for the first time.

Closing out the day on Center Court, wild card and 2007 finalist Nicolas Mahut of France makes his seventh straight (eighth overall) appearance in Newport as he meets American Rhyne Williams for the second time in a month. Last month at the Queen’s Club, Mahut won 6-3 6-2 in the first round. The following week in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Mahut qualified (ranked No. 240) and captured his first career ATP World Tour title.

Tomorrow’s action will also mark the return of Ivo Karlovic, the big serving Croatian and former world No. 14, who has been sidelined with spiral meningitis. The Hall of Fame Tennis Championships is Karlovic’s first tournament since the US Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston in April.

For additional information, tickets, and live scoring, visit www.HallofFameTennisChampionships.com

RESULTS – JULY 8, 2013

Singles – First Round

[2] J Isner (USA) d R Harrison (USA) 76(0) 62

M Przysiezny (POL) d [WC] S Kozlov (USA) 63 67(9) 64

Y Sugita (JPN) d J Levine (CAN) 75 75

A Mannarino (FRA) d J Blake (USA) 64 57 61

Doubles – First Round

[2] N Mahut (FRA) / E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) d J Cerretani (USA) / K De Schepper (FRA) 63 64

T Smyczek (USA) / R Williams (USA) d M Matosevic (AUS) / F Moser (GER) 63 62

Mens

Qualifying Singles – Quarterfinals