John Isner opens with win in bid for 5th Atlanta Open title
ATLANTA (AP) Top-seeded John Isner won in his first match since a marathon loss at Wimbledon, beating Alex de Minaur of Australia 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday night in the Atlanta Open.
The 33-year-old Isner, the defending champion at Atlantic Station seeking his fifth title in the event, was coming off a 6-hour, 36-minute semifinal loss to Kevin Anderson in the Wimbledon semifinals that ended with a 26-24 fifth set.
''I'm very mature now. I know what it takes to bounce back from something like that,'' Isner said. ''As soon as I got off the plane I worked out actually. I have to keep my body constantly moving. Just sitting on a couch for days on end, I would have felt even worse.''
The 6-foot-10 former University of Georgia star won the Miami Open in April for his 13th ATP Tour title and first Masters 1000 event victory. He had an easy time with the 19-year-old de Minaur.
''It was a pretty comprehensive win,'' Isner said. ''You never know how you're going to come out. This was my first match on hard court since Miami so it's been a little bit and hadn't practiced too much because the focus was on resting after that long match.''
Isner set up a quarterfinal match against seventh-seeded Mischa Zverev of Germany, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Russia's Mikhail Youzhny.
Eighth-seeded Ryan Harrison, the losing finalist last year, advanced with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia.
Third-seeded Chung Hyeon of South Korea beat Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6 (5) to set up a quarterfinal against Harrison.
