John Isner become second player after Ivo Karlovic to enter 13,000-ace club

By ANI

CINCINNATI: John Isner shattered yet another serving milestone on Tuesday evening at the Western & Southern Open while also cruising into the second round at Cincinnati.

The 36-year-old American defeated Cameron Norrie 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 to reach the next round. In doing so, Isner hit 26 aces to reach 13,004 in his career. Isner became the second player in history to reach 13,000 aces. Isner (13,004), who picked up his 18th win in Cincinnati in his 14th Western & Southern Open appearance, joins Ivo Karlovic (13,709) in the 13,000-ace club.

“I do know that I’m within shouting distance of Ivo and maybe getting that record. We’ll see,” Isner said as per the Western & Southern Open. “I also saw he might be retiring. If he does retire soon, (the all-time record) seems attainable. I would like to hold that record. I’m not going to shy away from that. We’ll see if I can get there.”

The home favourite will next play Italian Jannik Sinner, the 11th seed, who eliminated Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-2, 7-5 on Monday. This will be the pair’s first ATP head-to-head clash, as per ATPTour.com.

Another American player, the 17-year-old Coco Gauff made her Cincinnati debut and dominated Wimbledon doubles champion Sui-Wei Hsieh 6-1, 6-2, setting up a second-round match with four-time Major champion and 2020 Western & Southern Open finalist Naomi Osaka.

Reilly Opelka, a 2020 Western & Southern Open quarterfinalist, continued the string of victories for American players on Tuesday. The 23-year-old defeated France’s Corentin Moutet in three sets to advance to a second-round face-off with eighth-seeded Casper Ruud.