Isner beats Raonic, reaches U.S. Open quarters

Associated PressSep 2, 2018, 8:35 PM EDT

AP Photo

NEW YORK — John Isner — with all his finger-twirling, fist-pumping histrionics stirring the crowd — had just clinched his first U.S. Open quarterfinal berth since 2011 when his thoughts flashed to someone who wasn’t at the stadium to celebrate: his wife, Maddie.

She was home, expecting the couple’s first child.

Isner hoped he had another big delivery up first — a U.S. Open championship.

“Why not me?” Isner asked.

With his booming serve leading the way, why not indeed?

Isner, seeded 11th, slipped past Milos Raonic for the second time this season in a Grand Slam, using a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory on Sunday night to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

Isner needed four sets to defeat Raonic at Wimbledon on the way to the semifinals, his best showing at a major. The 33-year-old Isner is playing the best tennis of his career. He won the Miami Open and the Atlanta Open and was the highest-seeded American man at the U.S. Open for the seventh straight year.

Isner improved to 5-1 lifetime against the 25th-seeded Raonic. Raonic, the last Canadian left in the singles draw, needed treatment on his back after the fourth set. The 2016 Wimbledon runner-up failed to break Isner’s serve in the three sets he lost — none, surprisingly, going to a tiebreaker between the big servers.

Isner is known for his marathon matches and he played another long one in Louis Armstrong Stadium, hitting 3 hours, 8 minutes. It must have seemed like a warmup compared to his 6 1/2-hour (including a 26-24 fifth set) loss to Kevin Anderson at Wimbledon. He would have played as long as needed to equal his best result in the U.S. Open.

Back on his home turf, Isner was a fan favorite in New York.

Isner had the crowd behind him on every point and the 6-foot-11 American pumped his fist on every winner. With Citi Field signage peeking through one side of Louis Armstrong, Isner proved the biggest power hitter at Flushing Meadows this year. The crowd erupted when he nailed a 141 mph ace to clinch the third set, and his 20 aces boosted his tournament-high total to 112.

But it was a pretty drop shot in the second that led to a Michael Jordan-esque shrug that might have been his best of the night.

“The crowd just kept me in it,” Isner said. “This atmosphere is like a jungle. It was amazing.”

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.