John Isner Hangs on at Auckland, Sam Querrey Stumbles at Sydney

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American John Isner saved match point and rallied past the Netherlands' Robin Haase to reach the Auckland semifinals today, 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.

It was the first pro action of the year for the 25-year-old ranked 20th in the world, who sprang to fame last summer by winning the longest match in history during the first round of Wimbledon.

Isner's biggest overall weapon was his favorite again on Wednesday, as he launched 22 aces and 61 first-serve winners.  

He also saved his own bacon time and again after errors put him in precarious positions. Isner withstood eight of 10 break points.

The fourth-highest ranked American advances to the quarterfinals, where he will meet sixth-seeded David Nalbandian, himself an easy 6-3, 6-2 victor over Philipp Petzschner in the round of 16.

Unlike its contemporary in Sydney this week (see below), the Heineken Open has had relatively few upsets. Also winning on Wednesday were No. 1 seed David Ferrer, No. 2 Nicholas Almagro, No. 7 Thomaz Bellucci and No. 8 Philipp Kohlschreiber. The only upset of the day was No. 4 Alberto Montanes falling in three sets to Santiago Giraldo.

Sydney

Status quo was definitely not the norm at the men's Medibank International, where the top two seeds tumbled. American Sam Querrey, ranked No. 18 in the world and seeded No. 1 in the tournament, was dumped in straight sets by Alexandr Dolgopolov, ranked 49th in the world, 6-3, 6-4.

The tournament's No. 2 seed, Poland's Lukasz Kubot, didn't fare much better, falling to Italy's Potito Starace in three. The other top-five seeds—Ernests Gulbis, Viktor Troicki and Richard Gasquet—all advanced.

Not as fortunate was former top-five player Juan Martin Del Potro, who fell to Florian Mayer 6-2, 7-5. In Sydney doubles action, Bob and MIke Bryan reached the quarterfinals with a straight-set win.

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