I
t had all the potential of a great match and John Isner’s 7-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 defeat of global crowd favourite Marcos Baghdatis certainly had some great moments. Giant John displayed his serving prowess as well as his improving net skills while the charismatic Marcos pulled some amazing shots out of his bag.
The first two sets were of a high level with both players holding serve. It was Marcos who got an early lead in the second tiebreak but struggled to contain Isner’s power and combat the American’s wingspan. Finally it was Marcos who blinked allowing Isner to take the tiebreak 13-11.
The third set saw Isner lagging a little with the Cypriot jumping on the chance to get on the scoreboard but in the final set Baghdatis just simply couldn’t find a way to get past Isner.
John will now face Robby Ginepri.
