Fans and players alike enjoyed another beautiful day of tennis as second round play continued at the Citi Open. By the end of the night, the third round slate was finalized and several seeded players found themselves heading home early.
Fifth-seed John Isner, coming off a hard-court title in Atlanta last week, found an intense competitor in fellow American Steve Johnson. In a hard fought match that included two tiebreakers and 29 aces from Isner, Johnson eliminated Isner in his opening match 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(6).
Top-Seed Tomas Berdych advanced over American Robby Ginepri 6-1, 6-4, while Canada's Milos Raonic, the tournament's second seed, defeated American Jack Sock in two close sets 7-6(3), 7-6(3). Raonic will face 14th-seed Lleyton Hewitt in the third round. Also advancing among the men was Japan's Kei Nishikori, who defeated American Sam Querry 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Eighth seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain is heading home after losing to the Dominican Republic's Victor Estrella Burgos 7-6(5), 6-4.
American women Shelby and Taylor Townsend bowed out in second round play.
Townsend was defeated 6-3, 6-4 by France's Kristina Mladenovic, who was coming off her upset of No. 1 seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic yesterday afternoon.
Last night featured American experience versus American youth in men's doubles play. Jared Donaldson, 17, and Stefan Kozlov, 16, waged a spirited first set against renowned brothers Bob and Mike Bryan, but the newcomers were ultimately defeated 7-5, 6-0.
Yesterday afternoon, Australian Sam Groth revived his tournament hopes as he and partner Leander Paes of India defeated France's Jeremy Chardy and Sweden's Robert Lindstedt 6-1, 7-6(4). American Robby Ginepri eliminated Groth from the singles tournament during first round play Monday.
Thursday's order of play...
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