Brown Bounces Top Seed And Defending Champ Isner Out Of Houston

Written by: Staff on 9th April 2014

Brown Bounces Top Seed And Defending Champ Isner Out Of Houston

epa04125823 John Isner from USA returns against Ernests Gulbis from Latvia at the BNP Paribas Open tennis in Indian Wells, California, USA, 14 March 2014. EPA/MICHAEL NELSON |

By Ricky Dimon

A few hours after the Casablanca lost its No. 1 seed, Kevin Anderson, the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston stumbled upon the same fate. Like Anderson, top-seeded John Isner–who was also the defending champion–lost his opening match.

Isner’s loss, however, was not without plenty of drama. The 6’10” American went down to Dustin Brown 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-6(4) after two hours and 19 minutes of play during second-round action on Wednesday night. Brown overcame 10 double-faults by firing 12 aces and saving all nine of the break points he faced en route to his first career victory over a Top 10 opponent.

Isner, who is currently ranked ninth in the world but will fall out of the Top 10 next Monday, fought off two match points in the second set–one when Brown double-faulted at 6-4 in the tiebreaker.

Roles were reversed in the third, as it was Brown who staved off defeat. The 6’5” German saved six break points before taking control in another tiebreaker, which he led 5-1 before giving back two mini-breaks. Brown took a 6-4 lead when Isner double-faulted and he finally capped off one of his biggest wins with a clean forehand winner.

“I’ve had a lot of matches where I played good tennis, where I was close,” the world No. 101 said when asked about his brief history against Top 10 opposition. “You just gotta keep playing I guess. Even though I lost the second set with [match points], it was a learning experience. So I got a little tight in the second set, maybe also at the end of the third. But it doesn’t help if I go crazy. I just have to try to keep playing, keep playing.”

“It feels unbelievable. It’s my first time to Houston and I’m really enjoying it. It would have hurt real bad to lose this one.”

“It’s a match I certainly want to win, but it’s a very big match for him,” Isner commented. “I just didn’t play well; simple as that. Always in this tournament I’ve struggled in my first match and always had a knack of finding a way to win. But not tonight.”

Topics: Dustin Brown, Houston, John Isner, Kevin Anderson, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis, U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship

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10sBalls_com says:

April 9, 2014 at 11:58 pm

Brown Bounces Top Seed And Defending Champ Isner Out Of Houston – http://t.co/M01u6bmhel @JohnIsner @DreddyTennis #tennis @RD_Tennistalk
dusanVemic says:

April 10, 2014 at 12:18 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Brown Bounces Top Seed And Defending Champ Isner Out Of Houston – http://t.co/M01u6bmhel @JohnIsner @DreddyTennis #tennis…
cheeers1 says:

April 10, 2014 at 12:32 am

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RD_Tennistalk says:

April 10, 2014 at 6:12 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Brown Bounces Top Seed And Defending Champ Isner Out Of Houston – http://t.co/M01u6bmhel @JohnIsner @DreddyTennis #tennis…
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