John Isner will be confident of winning the all-American clash with Robby Ginepri in the second round of the US Open.
Isner has spent the summer building towards this fortnight and he’s comes into the tournament in the form of his life after winning Winston-Salem last week. The 28th seed smashed down a 141mph serve on the way to a battling 7-6(2), 7-6(11), 2-6, 6-4 win over Marcos Baghdatis on Wednesday and if he can maintain this rate of serving, he will be a handful for anyone outside the top four.
Isner’s baseline game is always a good way of telling the sort of form he’s in. The North Carolinian has been striking the ball confidently off his forehand while keeping that weaker backhand deep enough for opponents not to be able to attack it.
Ginepri, a US Open semi-finalist way back in 2005, made use of his wildcard to get past Joao Souza 6-3, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 but it’s difficult to see how he’s going to find a way through Isner’s serving barrage today.
Ginepri loves this surface but he can go off the boil too easily and any sniff of a break for Isner is virtually set over when he’s serving this well.
Prediction: Isner in three.
