Top two seeds and 2013 finalists John Isner and Kevin Anderson will be kicking off their 2014 Atlanta campaigns on Thursday. Isner is set for an all-American clash with Robby Ginepri while Anderson will go up against Thiemo De Bakker.
(1) John Isner vs. (WC) Robby Ginepri
Isner and Ginepri will be squaring off the fourth time in their careers when they do battle in round two of the BB&T Atlanta Open on Thursday. All three of their previous encounters have come on hard courts, with Isner leading the head-to-head series 2-1. The 6’10” American survived 6-4, 6-7(1), 7-6(5) at the 2009 Auckland event, lost to Ginepri 6-4, 6-3 a few months later in Indianapolis, and scored a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory at the 2011 U.S. Open.
It has already been a productive week for the oft-injured Ginepri, who earned his first ATP main-draw win since Houston last spring by upsetting Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-0 on Tuesday. The 31-year-old American, a hard-luck first-round opponent of Rafael Nadal at the French Open, is toiling down at No. 281 in the world. Meanwhile, Isner is back at one of his favorite tournaments. The world No. 12 is 12-3 lifetime in Atlanta with two runner-up finishes, a semifinal showing, and a title last season. Isner is is a decent 23-12 this year, a record that includes a title in Auckland, a semifinal performance in Indian Wells, and a fourth-round appearance at Roland Garros. More than likely it will take someone with a better return and also someone more match-tough than Ginepri to take down Isner this week.
Pick: Isner in 2 with no tiebreakers
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(LL) Thiemo De Bakker vs. (2) Kevin Anderson
De Bakker and Anderson will be facing each other for the second time in their careers and for the first time in three years when they meet again on Thursday. Anderson staged a comeback to win their only previous encounter 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 on the clay courts of Estoril in 2011. The 6’8” South African is more at home in the United States, where he went to college and now makes his residence. Four of Anderson’s eight career ATP finals have come on American hard courts and he finished runner-up to Isner last summer in Atlanta. Still in fine form, the world No. 17 is 25-13 for the season.
A date with the No. 2 seed is De Bakker’s reward for what has been an interesting few days. Knowing he would get a lucky-loser spot in the main draw if he lost on Monday, the 142nd-ranked Dutchman retired against Steven Diez while leading by a set but trailing by a break in the second. De Bakker came back out 24 hours later to play none other than Diez in the first round and he clobbered the Canadian 6-1, 6-2. The underdog has the talent to hang with Anderson, but this is a big step up in competition for someone whose ranking has forced him to spend most of his time on the Challenger circuit.
Pick: Anderson in 2
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Isner should roll tonight, but it’s great to have Ginepri still alive in an ATP tournament!
For a minute I thought Ginepri might pull off the win when he was up 5/4 in the 3rd and it was 15/40 on Isner’s serve. I like John, but I’ll never like big serve tennis. The final game, 4 unreturnable aces…ugh. Good effort by Ginepri and nice to see him playing well.