Sports

Frustrated Isner stays on course

John Isner — who said he wants to be the top American, and is the natural successor to retiring Andy Roddick — not only had to beat Jark Nieminen to earn a 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-3 second-round U.S. Open win Friday, but had to fight himself as well.

He fussed with the chair umpire, admitted he had poor body language, and even dropped a tiebreaker. Isner had played a tour-high 50 tiebreaks this season and was 37-13 before dropping one in the second set that saw him serving up 5-4 when a call went against him. Isner lost his temper and Nieminen won the final three points.

But the 6-foot-9 Isner stayed poised enough to get a vital break in the third set, and he dominated the fourth. He had 23 aces with his booming serve, hit 69 winners and moved into the third round against Benoit Paire or Philipp Kohlschreiber.

“It wasn’t the chair ump, she was doing her job. I got a little frustrated, but it wasn’t at her,’’ Isner said. “The third set was tricky. I was down two or three break points. Something clicked at 5-4 me and I rolled off four straight points, hit a great forehand, got one more break in the fourth set and held on with my serve.”

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After sending Kim Clijsters off into retirement, Great Britain’s Laura Robson’s encore was a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 upset of No. 9 seed Li Na. Next up is defending champion Samantha Stosur.

“I have had a fairly tough draw, haven’t I? Well, you have to beat who’s in front of you, that’s what I’ve managed to do so far,’’ said Robson, who received a congratulatory tweet from Wayne Rooney — only to have the soccer star misspell her name.

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Top seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won 6-0, 6-1 against Zheng Jie of China, needing just 59 minutes to finish off the No. 28 seed.

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Brian Battistone and has wacky racket have left the U.S. Open. Battistone — the only player on the pro tour using an odd racket with two handles — and Nicole Melichar lost to Nuria Llagostera Vives and David Marrero 6-7, 3-6 in mixed doubles.

“Any time you do some unbelievably different you’ve got to expect the questions, comments, snickering and all those things,’’ Battistone said. “And at an event where there happens to be a lot more people its jus magnified a little bit.’’

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The Open drew a single-day record of 37,688. The weekend session is sold out.

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American wild card Steve Johnson upset Ernests Gulbis 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-4 on Court 13 to reach the third round. Gulbis handed Johnson the second set on a double-fault, and the two-time NCAA champ at USC took advantage.