Isner, Gulbis advance to Nice quarterfinals

John Isner and Ernests Gulbis score respective victories over Jack Sock and Martin Klizan on Wednesday in Nice. They are joined in the quarterfinals by Gilles Simon, a three-set winner over Dominic Thiem.

John Isner began his quest as the the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur top seed with a 6-4, 6-3 second-round victory over fellow American Jack Sock on Wednesday. Isner fired eight aces without double-faulting and held all eight of his service games to advance in one hour and 17 minutes.

The world No. 11 lost a mere 12 points in 10 service games, although he did have to save a pair of break points in the second set. Isner’s breaks of Sock came at 5-4 in the opener and at 2-1 in set two.

“I didn’t know how I would play coming into the match, as I have tried not to train too much,” Isner said. “It was very hard playing Jack, as we are very good friends.”

There was no love lost, however, between Ernests Gulbis and Martin Klizan. The second-seeded Gulbis recovered from a slow start to prevail 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-1 before a lengthy and heated exchange of words took place at the net and continued even when Klizan went back to his chair.

Gulbis’ good friend and frequent hitting partner Dominic Thiem–who shares coach Gunther Bresnik–did not fare as well as the Latvian. Gilles Simon, who had lost to Thiem earlier this season on the hard courts of Indian Wells, avenged his previous setback to the 20-year-old with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory.

Another friend of Gulbis, of which Klizan clearly is not one, awaits him in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Dmitry Tursunov booked his spot in the last eight by taking care of Robin Haase 6-3, 6-4. Tursunov, who won a doubles title with Gulbis at the 2009 Indianapolis event, is 2-1 lifetime against the world No. 19.

“[Tursunov] is a good friend,” Gulbis commented. “I have played with him in doubles many times. I know him, he knows me. It will be a fun match.”

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