John Isner was involved in yet another Grand Slam epic in the second round of the Australian Open, as the 6’11 nineteenth seed lost 67 67 64 76 97 against Germany’s Mischa Zverev in a match that lasted over four hours and fifteen minutes.
Isner is most famous for his Wimbledon win over Nicolas Mahut in 2010 but also has had epics against the likes of Paul-Henri Mathieu and Tommy Haas at Roland Garros, and added this match with Mischa Zverev to the history books of epic five-setters that he has been involved in.
Things had looked promising for the nineteenth seed after he took the first two sets on tiebreaks, both by seven points to four. However, Zverev mounted a furious fightback to defeat the tiebreak specialist in a tense fifth set.
Isner had produced relatively strong numbers in sets one, two, and four, but lost the fourth set despite winning more than half the return points against Zverev’s serve. Zverev punished him for his profligacy taking the set nine-seven in a tiebreak, making little of the fact that he had served a rather high thirteen double-faults in the match.
As the match moved into the fifth set, it became increasingly clear that it was Zverev who benefited from stronger conditioning, as the German was moving far more fluidly at the back of the court, and was approaching the net with measured consideration.
Isner in contrast, was hacking the ball at times, and when he did come to the net it was often on blind faith, relying heavily on his incredible coverage and height to win points. As the match continued to progress, Isner’s plight became more desperate, as the tall American struggled in the Australian heat, his footwork suffering, and many of hid ground-strokes began to miss by a large margin. Zverev’s surprising agility was enabling him to put a number of Isner serves back in play and, by serving first, ensured that the American was always under scoreboard pressure.
At seven-six the most dramatic moment of the match arrived, as Zverev forced two match points at fifteen-forty. Taking an Isner serve aggressively, Zverev drove the return deep towards the feet of his opponent. Isner stuck out a racket and struck the ball, with it dying on the net before rolling onto Zverev’s side for a fortuitous save of match point. Isner saved two more match points in the game in rather more routine fashion, a big serve and a cross court forehand volley helped him frustrate the German.
It only delayed the inevitable though, as after Zverev quickly held before racing out to a love-forty lead. He then hit a passing shot at the feet of the net-rushing Isner, and this time the ball limply died well short of the net, handing the German a famous win and a shock at this stage of the tournament.
The win ensures that Zverev matches his best-ever performance at a singles grand slam (Wimbledon 2008), and will have the chance to better that record when he takes on Malek Jaziri in an unlikely third round meeting.
The section is more open than expected, as both seeds (Isner and Lucas Pouille) failed to reach the third round. The winner of the Zverev Jaziri encounter will likely face World No.1 Andy Murray in the fourth round.
