JOHN ISNER HEADLINES ATLANTA OPEN TENNIS JOINED BY MERCURIAL NICK KYRGIOS, KEVIN ANDERSON, AND FERNANDO VERDASCO

Written by: Staff on 31st July 2016

JOHN ISNER HEADLINES ATLANTA OPEN TENNIS JOINED BY MERCURIAL NICK KYRGIOS, KEVIN ANDERSON, AND FERNANDO VERDASCO

epa05434082 John Isner of the US in action against James Duckworth of Australia during a second round match at the CITI Open tennis tournament at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center in Washington, DC, USA, 20 July 2016. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER |

By Ricky Dimon

John Isner is the No. 1 seed as he looks to capture a fourth consecutive title at the upcoming week’s BB&T Atlanta Open. The draw for the first event of the U.S. Open Series was revealed on Saturday and Isner, of course, is one of the opening-round bye recipients along with Nick Kyrgios, Kevin Anderson, and Alexandr Dolgopolov.

“It’s so hard to win an ATP event,” Isner said in a recent interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “I’ve only won 10 of them and three of them have come in Atlanta. I won’t put any pressure on myself, but it is a tournament that I really want to do well at.

“When I heard this tournament was coming to Atlanta six years ago, I knew it could be a great opportunity for me. I knew Atlanta would support it because Atlanta is a fantastic tennis town.”

The 6’10” American’s potential road to another winner’s trophy will begin against either Adrian Mannarino or a qualifier. No. 8 seed Taylor Fritz, who achieved such a distinction thanks in part to the withdrawals of Frenchman Benoit Paire and Lucas Pouille, is in the same section as Isner and could run into the big guy in the quarterfinals. Fritz will kick off his campaign against American wild card Austin Smith, who recently graduated from college after playing No. 1 this past season for the University of Georgia.

Speaking of in-state college products, Georgia Tech No. 1 Christopher Eubanks qualified for the main draw on Sunday afternoon. Eubanks, ranked 1817th in the world, upset world No. 104 Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 7-5. The 6’7” Atlanta native will face either Adrian Mannarino, Julien Benneteau, Tim Smyczek, or Reilly Opelka in round one.

Joining Isner and Fritz in the top half of the bracket is another Atlanta resident, Donald Young. The seventh seed actually lives at Atlantic Station, where the tournament is taking place. Young will kick off his campaign against countryman Rajeev Ram and could meet Smyczek in the last 16 before possibly facing Anderson in the quarters.

Donald Young of the US in action against Bernard Tomic of Australia during their second round match at the CITI Open tennis tournament at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center in Washington, DC USA, 20 July 2016. Tomic defeated Young. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER

An intriguing bottom section of the draw features first-rime Atlanta participants Kyrgios and Fernando Verdasco. The second-seeded Kyrgios will open on Thursday against either Sam Groth or Jared Donaldson. Verdasco, meanwhile, is in line to battle Dusan Lajovic before potentially going up against Benneteau for the likely right to play Kyrgios on Friday.

Dolgopolov, the No. 4 seed, may have a Wimbledon rematch on his hands right off the bat. The Ukrainian bowed out of the All-England Club after taking a second-round pounding from Daniel Evans, who ended up losing to Roger Federer in the last 32. Evans will face Dolgopolov again if he wins his Atlanta first-rounder against Yoshihito Nishioka.

An all-Ukrainian affair between Dolgopolov and Sergiy Stakhovsky is also a possibility in the quarterfinals.