News-Record.com

Staff writer Jim Young is providing live updates from John Isner's Round of 16 singles match in the NCAA men's tennis tournament. Isner is a former standout at Page High School and is the No. 1 ranked singles and doubles player in college tennis. Jim is not on site, but he is glued to his computer, watching a live webfeed of the match. Check the top of this blog entry for the most recent updates.

Oh boy, Isner's not responding well to prosperity. A double fault to start off his serve, followed by a volley error that bounced before it got to the net. 15-30, Isner's down. I missed how he got his point, while I was typing. Let's assume it was a service winner, shall we.

Ace! 30-all.

Ace again!!! 40-30. Did I say that Isner was in trouble? Of course not.

Match point ..... service winner! Game set and match Isner, 7-6, 7-5.

In those four points, Isner showed us why he's a threat to win the national title. Down 0-30, after playing two sloppy points, he turns things around with four swings of his racket. No one else in this tournament - and very few people in the world, actually - can do that. And in this tournament, where most matches from here on will be very, very tight, having the ability to win easy points on your serve is a weapon of immense value.

So it's on to the quarterfinals for Isner, where he'll face the winner of Steven Moneke (No. 5 seed, Ohio State) and Daniel Vallverdu (unseeded, Miami).

Isner and Flores play their Round of 16 double match at 4 p.m. today, against Adam Hubble and Ben Rogers, of Tennessee.

11:48 update

Are you sitting down? You should be. Brace yourself ...

WE HAVE A SERVICE BREAK!!!

Thanks to three straight unforced errors and then a beautiful forehand passing shot that Isner ripped down the line, the 6-9 pride of Greensboro is up 6-5 and serving for the match.

11:37 update

Things got interesting there for a second, as Isner fought back to actually force - gasp! - deuce on Skupski's serve. Then Skupski rolled through the next two points. 5-4 Skupski, on serve.

I'd love to spice this up folks, but I can only blog what I see with my own two eyes. And what I see are two guys with pretty dominating service games.

11:29 update

4-3 Skupski. Still on serve. Also just in, water is wet.

While Isner and Skupski keep winning their serves, Isner's teammate's singles tournament just ended on Court No. 2. Luis Flores fell to No. 3 seed Jesse Levine - who is in Isner's quarter of the draw, by the way, in straight sets.

Meanwhile, Georgia's No. 3, Travis Helgeson, has just stepped on to Court No. 2 to start his match with UVA's Somdev Devvarman. Yes, that's three Bulldogs in the Round of 16. Any wonder why they won the national team title?

11:23 Update

Two more games played in four minutes flat. Think these guys are having trouble holding serve? Me neither. 3-2 Skupski.

Since I have nothing more to add until we reach the inevitable second-set tiebreaker, I'll take this moment to share with you that Skupski is from Liverpool, England. Perhaps a well-researched Georgia fan is heckling him with "AC Milan!" chants during change-overs.

Wonder how many times Skupski's been asked, "Hey, do you like the Beatles?" Wonder how many times people at LSU have giggled when he's told them he's a Liverpudlian.

11:19 update

2-1 Skupski, as we're - surprise! - back on serve in the second set. The over-under on breaks in this match has been set at 0.5. I'm taking the under.

11:08 update

UGA tennis pr guy Kyle Harris told me stories of Isner's ability to really crank up his serve. It's showing right now in the tiebreaker. Isner won his first three service points with ace, winner, ace. 3-2 Isner.

Cue Bud Collins. Mini-break! Wicked, low, backhand return of serve forces Skupski to dump a volley into the net. 4-2 Isner.

Skupski responds with a punishing forehand winner. 4-3 Isner.

Isner gives back the mini-break with a double-fault. 4-4.

Service winner. This one almost disembowels Skupski. 5-4. Isner.

Wow! Brilliant forehand winner by Skupski. 5-5.

Great defensive tennis by Isner gets him another minibreak, 6-5 Isner.

Yikes! Double-fault on set point for Isner. Looks like he really went for it on the second serve. 6-6, changing sides.

Clearly, Isner is rattled. Ace down the middle. 7-6 Isner.

Isner misses another forehand approach - that's been a nagging problem for him. 7-7.

Ace, Skupski. He leads, 8-7.

Service winner, Isner. 8-8. Oh, the tension.

Ace down the middle for Isner, 9-8. That brings up set point #3.

Great defensive tennis again by Isner wins him the first set, 10-8 in the tiebreak. He blocks back a strong serve, then guesses right when Skupski blasts an inside-out forehand. Isner's forehand goes deep down the line forcing a forehand error out of the lefty. That's probably a horrible description, but trust me, it was really good tennis.

7-6 Isner in the first set. This is typical Isner tennis. It wasn't a blowout, but his serve kept him going until he won just enough big points - i.e. three in the tiebreaker - to pull out the set.

By the way, the two points Skupski won off Isner's serve in the tiebreaker both came on double-faults.

10:55 update

Mmmm. That was a might-have-been game for Isner. Twice he got to within two points of the set, at 30-all and deuce, only to ahve Skupski serve up an ace and an overhead winner. But Isner also made three unforced errors in the game as well. Looks like a big missed opportunity.

On to the tiebreaker ...

10:45 update

Okay, now it's getting a little tense. 5-5 in the first set. Skupski hasn't exactly looked vulnerable on his serve. Isner's margin for error is thin.

Which is why it's nice to start off your serve with a booming ace down the middle. Geez. Skupski, my friend, I've been there before. (For those of who who have no idea what I'm talking about, I worte a first-person account of what it's like to face Isner's serve. Of the nine serves he got in the court, I managed to return one and got a piece of one other. The other seven were aces.)

Isner wraps up his serve at love, even after disputing a call on a serve he thought was another ace. Wish we had stats here, I'd love to know how many service aces and winners he has right now.

6-5 Isner. Something's gotta give soon.

10:40 update

Further proof that this Skupski guy is no chump. He has wins this season over Isner's doubles partner, Luis Flores, as well as the No. 6 seed in the tournament, Arnau Brugues, of Tulsa. Brugues, by the way, beat Isner in the finals of the Ralph Lauren All-American tournament in the fall, one of the major titles in college tennis.

The one time Skupski and Isner met this season, during a dual match between LSU and Georgia, they split sets but did not finish the match, because the Bulldogs team had already knocked off the Tigers.

If it seems like I'm not detailing much of the action here, it's because it's all going according to script so far. 5-4 Isner. Still on serve.

10:30 update

Okay, a quick confession. I just missed the last two games. Where was I? Umm... coffee goes through my system very rapidly. Need more? No? Good.

Still on serve, 4-3 Isner.

10:20 Update

Skupski, by the way, is left-handed. Isner has admitted that he pretty much hates playing lefties. Everything's coming at you from a different angle and spinning the opposite direction. Plus, the usual shot to the backhand is now a shot to the lefty's forehand, and vice versa. Basically, it's very counter-intuitive. It's one of the reasons Isner believes he struggled and lost to Florida's Jesse Levine, the No. 3 seed in this tournament, in the regular season.

Wham! Another ace from Isner (I feel your pain, Skupski). 3-2 Isner. On serve.

10:10 update

Okay, so the first update isn't exactly at 10 a.m. sharp. I am but one blogger, people, with two hands. Please bear with me.

Isner's taking on Ken Skupski of LSU. Skupski's unseeded, but he knocked off Wake Forest's Todd Paul, a 9-16 seed, with relative ease in the first round, 6-2, 6-3. He then rolled in straight sets in his second round match. He finished the regular season ranked No. 24 in the country. Not exactly chump change.

A bit of a scare early for Isner, as Skupski got up two break points, at 15-40. But man, it's nice to have a powerful serve. Isner got out of the jam, then served up an ace and a winner to close out the game.

2-1 Isner.