Mardy Fish’s countryman John Isner was defeated by Ivan Dodig of Croatia in the opening round of the Canadian Open yesterday. He lost in three sets by 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3.
This is the second event in a row in which Isner has suffered a first-round exit. The same had happened to him in Citi Open as well a few days back. He had been knocked out from there by his compatriot Steve Johnson.
There was a long delay in the start of the match between Isner and Dodig because of the weather conditions. It had to be played in afternoon, but, because of heavy showers, it was postponed to night.
The players find it a little uncomfortable to wait for their matches to get underway especially when the delay is so long. Dodig spoke about that in his post match press conference.
In the words of the Croatian, “It’s slightly difficult to be honest. Waiting for a long time and also, you have to go to another court. These things tend to frustrate you a little bit. Nevertheless, all is well for me at the end of the day.”
It was Dodig’s first appearance on the tour in 8 weeks. He had been out because of a fracture in his ribs. He had to cope with Isner’s lightening serves and he coped with them quite well.
Isner, the 6 ft 10 in tall player, smashed 13 aces in the match. He was so gutted after his defeat that he didn’t come to the conference room to talk to the reporters.
Isner, being the higher ranked player, was the favourite to win this match, but, Dodig created an upset with an all round performance.
Isner has already won a couple of tournaments this year.