Isner advances to 2nd round

2008-08-19 07:31

Connecticut - Promising young American player John Isner defeated Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-4 6-4 in the first round of Pilot Pen on Monday.

The hard-serving Isner closed out the match with a 135-mph against Kunitsyn, who reached the Washington semi-finals last week.

Isner next faces second-seeded Ivo Karlovic.

Also, fellow American Wayne Odesnik beat France's Sebastien Grosjean 7-5 6-4, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain topped Chris Guccione of Australia 7-5 6-3 to earn a second-round match with third-seeded Juan Martin del Potro, who has won his last four tournaments, including Washington on Sunday, and 19 successive matches.

A pair of Belgians advanced; Steve Darcis and Olivier Rochus, who will meet fourth-seeded Igor Andreev after beating another Russian, Evgeny Korolev 6-4 6-4.

Darcis progressed when Vince Spadea of the United States retired with a lower back injury while trailing 7-5 5-0. Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador also had to quit with a left knee injury while Fabio Fognini was ahead 6-4 4-4.

Knocked out

In women's play, No. 5 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated Jill Craybas 6-4 7-6 (2), repeating her win over the American at the Beijing Olympics last week.

Schnyder was knocked out of the Olympics by Austria's Sybille Bammer in the second round and said she still felt the effects of the 18-hour flight from China to Connecticut during Monday's match.

"Generally it is tough to come from Beijing," Schnyder said. "It is tough on your legs. It is just your body needs more time."

The 85-degree F temperature didn't help either.

"I felt really weak in the second set," Schnyder said. "Luckily there was a little breeze that cooled me down. It was tough conditions."

Eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, the runner-up at Montreal this month, retired because of heat illness after losing the first-set tiebreaker 9-7 to Stockholm winner Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.

- AP