For the second straight year at the U.S. Open, not a single American man reached the fourth round. The host nation’s last hopes, Sam Querrey and John Isner, both bowed out of the tournament during third-round action on Saturday.
Querrey’s exit was expected, as he had to go up against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. It proved to be an entirely straightforward affair, with Djokovic cruising 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
For Isner, the story was much different story. For a third consecutive year, the former University of Georgia standout went up against Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round. And for a third consecutive year he lost in heartbreaking fashion. Isner dropped a five-setter in 2012, fell in fourth-set tiebreaker in 2013, and succumbed in yet another fourth-set tiebreaker this time around. Kohlschreiber, Isner’s New York nemesis, prevailed 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4).
“(It’s) certainly a very weird situation,” Isner commented. “I never expected I could see him again this year in that round. It’s super disappointing that I’ve lost to him three times in a row at this tournament. I have the crowd on my side, I have a lot of things going my way as far as that goes. I wasn’t able to pull through three times in a row. It’s a bit annoying. It’s very disappointing. You know, there’s nothing else to say. He was just better three times in a row here.”
“It’s a little bit crazy to play three years in a row in the same round,” Kohlschreiber assured. “For sure it was (a) mental advantage for me I think that I always won over a long distance. On the other hand it’s always so close against him. You have to play some tiebreaks. I think I was very solid, very consistent in there, [mixed] it up with good aggression.”
Team USA will now gear up for a Davis Cup tie against Slovakia, while Kohlschreiber has a Monday fourth-round date with Djokovic.
“It’s disappointing for me personally, not for America as a whole,” Isner concluded. “For me personally it’s very disappointing ’cause I should hold myself to a pretty high standard. It’s disappointing to go out in the third round three years in a row to the same guy. America as a whole, that’s not for me to worry about. But for me personally, it’s very disappointing.”
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