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By Erik Gudris | Monday, March 30, 2015

 
John Isner Miami Open

John Isner took advantage of his big serve and mistakes from his opponent to reach the Miami Open fourth round.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

An intriguing first time meeting at the Miami Open on Monday night ended up with one player earning "hot shot" honors again while his opponent walked away with the win.

Miami Open - Djokovic, Nishikori Cruise into Fourth Round

John Isner finds himself entering the fourth round after knocking out No. 9 seed Grigor Dimitrov in a match that featured two very different styles of play.

"I still really don't have that many wins under my belt, but my level is there," the No. 22 seed Isner said later about reaching the fourth round." I'm playing better than my record indicates this year, that's for sure. So it's simple for me. Just keep this up and stay focused and keep doing what I'm doing."

Isner's trademark big serve squared off against the crowd-pleasing all-court style of Dimitrov. Early on it seemed Dimitrov might make his move in the opening set. At 1-all, Isner fell behind 15-40 on his serve after a late out call on the baseline, that was shown in during replay, caused some confusion. Isner responded with several huge serves to get out of trouble for 2-1.

Neither man gave up much ground as each enjoyed high serving percentages through the set that didn't feature many rallies. An inevitable tiebreak ensued, but it was Isner who made the breakthrough.

Isner won a pair of rare extended rallies that each time ended with Dimitrov netting on the final shot. Taking hold of a 5-2 lead, Isner would not look back. A sizzling ace sealed the breaker 7-6(2) in favor of the American.

Things continued to go awry for Dimitrov who again starting committing inopportune errors in the second set. Those errors soon created Isner's first break point chances of the night. Isner converted thanks to a shanked forehand from Dimitrov that gave the American a 2-1 lead.

The only real bright spot of the evening for Dimitrov was this fantastic forehand drop shot winner he struck to end the fifth game and keep in touch with his opponent's lead.


The Bulgarian could not build any momentum from there though as he tossed in a double fault down another break point a few games later. Isner, now serving for it at 5-2, soon fired an ace to reach his first match point.

Dimitrov responded with a rapid return that earned him the point and forced deuce. That would be his last moment of glory. Isner struck another ace to give him his second match point. With a pair of back to back aces, Isner closed out the convincing 7-6(2), 6-2 win.

Isner struck 15 aces on the night. The American hit 30 winners to 30 unforced errors compared to 12 winners from Dimitrov and 17 unforced errors.

When asked about his improving results over the last few weeks, Isner cites his disappointment in losing his Davis Cup matches against Great Britain a few weeks ago as one reason.

"In a weird way, that devastating Davis Cup week opened my eyes a little bit. The way I played against Andy (Murray), even though I lost, I definitely played the right way. Feel like I got all the nerves and tension out of myself in that match. I was just swinging and played pretty well," Isner said. "I felt like even though I lost two matches out there, which is one of the lowest points of my career, in a way it turned my season around a little bit."

Next up for Isner will be another big server in Canada's Milos Raonic. The fifth seeded Raonic earlier got past France's Jeremy Chardy 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(3).

 

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