John Isner defeated Grigor Dimitrov in a dramatic round of sixteen in Paris-Bércy. And on Friday, he fights against Juan Martin del Potro for a small chance to come to London.
John Isner has had an eventful summer – starting with his performance in Newport, the US-American has struck up to the US Open every week at a tournament, even in the week before the last Grand Slam tournament of the year in Winston Salem. And then in New York in round three against Misha Zverev was without chance, not only, but also owed to a certain amount of exhaustion.
But now, in Paris-Bércy, at the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the year and on an underground, which is very responsive to his speed John Isner, the 2.08 metre tall man from North Carolina is showing great sport again. And also comeback qualities – he won a lost match against Grigor Dimitrov with 7:6 (10), 5:7 and 7:7:6 (3).
Dimitrov took command towards the end of the second set, and in the third round, after a number of missed break chances, took Isner’s serve to 4-2 – and did not manage to finish 5-3. Isner accepted the invitation thankfully and won the tiebreak. And on Friday, he will face Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals, against whom he has only won two of his eight games.
Del Potro, on the other hand, could do two things at once with a win against Isner: The Argentinean would overtake Pablo Carreno Busta in the Race to London with his entry into the final round, and would virtually hoist himself to eighth position in the Race to London. Only if Lucas Pouille won the tournament, del Potro would have to worry about a place in the O2 Arena in London.
On the other hand, John Isner still has the chance to get a ticket to London – with a tournament success in Paris-Bércy. Most recently, Isner and del Potro were facing each other in Montreal this summer, with the 2009 US Open Champion having prevailed in two sets. To the middle of the strenuous summer tour by John Isner.
Here is the single panel in Paris-Bércy