John Isner Pulls Off Biggest Upset Of U.S. Open's 1st Day

NEW YORK (AP) _ Nothing subtle about John Isner. Everything about him is super-sized, from his 6-foot-9 frame to his 140 mph serves. <br/><br/>Add in large expectations, too, which will only increase now

Monday, August 27th 2007, 8:08 pm

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Nothing subtle about John Isner. Everything about him is super-sized, from his 6-foot-9 frame to his 140 mph serves.

Add in large expectations, too, which will only increase now that Isner played the very first Grand Slam match of his nascent career Monday at the U.S. Open and won it. Fresh out of college, Isner smacked 34 aces to knock off 26th-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-4.

``It's a huge step for me,'' said the 22-year-old Isner, who led Georgia to the NCAA tennis title. ``To be able to beat a guy like that means a lot, says a lot: No matter who I'm playing, seeded or not ... I feel like I can go out there and compete.''

Joining him in the second round was another young American who needed a wild card to get into the year's last major tournament: Donald Young, the Wimbledon junior champion, who recently snapped an 0-for-11 drought in tour-level matches.

It made for a heady start for the locals, given all of the recent consternation about the U.S. men in the sport.

They were 0-9 at the French Open; they had their smallest representation (three players) in Wimbledon's second round in at least 40 years; they haven't won a Grand Slam title since 2003, the longest drought in nearly two decades.

The American women, in contrast, are doing quite all right thanks to one family. Sisters Venus and Serena Williams, owners of a combined 14 Grand Slam singles titles, were to play their opening matches Monday night after a tribute marking the 50th anniversary of Althea Gibson becoming the first black woman to win the U.S. National Championships.

Young remembered writing a biography about Gibson when he was in sixth grade, which actually wasn't all that long ago. He turned 18 last month and is signed up for the U.S. Open junior tournament next week.

``When you play out here, there's not that much pressure, because I'm (ranked) like 200 in the world, and everybody's top-100,'' the No. 223 Young said after eliminating No. 93 Chris Guccione of Australia 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. ``I'm not supposed to win.''

People such as No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 1 Justine Henin are, and on Monday they did, rather easily. Both advanced in straight sets, as did No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko, who then talked about the gambling probe surrounding a match he played early this month.

``It's pretty tough, mentally, to play,'' said Davydenko, a semifinalist last year, who encountered little trouble in a 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 victory over Jesse Levine, another American wild card.

Levine's claim to fame to this point was spending two weeks recently as Federer's practice partner in the United Arab Emirates. The teen thought he was the victim of a pal's prank when the phone call arrived from Federer's reps asking if he was available.

``Yeah. Very funny. Who is this?'' was Levine's reply.

Then, eventually, he realized it was all for real, and he loved his time with the three-time defending U.S. Open champion. Perhaps persuaded by a taste of the good life, Levine left Florida after his freshman year. While there, he faced Isner, who played for the Bulldogs for four years _ an uncommon path among tennis pros these days.

``John's serve gets him so many free points,'' Levine noted.

That it certainly did against Nieminen, a U.S. Open quarterfinalist in 2005.

``It was the most difficult serve I have returned,'' said Nieminen, who kept having to reach above his shoulders to try to put a racket on the ball. ``This is the best serve I have seen.''

Nieminen prepared by having practice partners move all the way up from the baseline to the service box to hit serves. It didn't help much.

Here's how Isner began: 125 mph ace, 114 mph second-serve service winner, 135 mph ace, 137 mph serve that was returned before Nieminen eventually netted a forehand. Four points, all to Isner, and a trend was set.

``Let's go, Izzy!'' came a yell from the stands at Louis Armstrong Stadium, where a partisan crowd was certainly on his side.

Another instructive moment came at 4-4 in the first set, when Isner faced his first break point at 30-40. Here's what he came up with: 135 mph ace, 136 mph ace, 124 mph ace. Bingo! Service game held. By the end, Isner had faced seven break points _ and saved all of them. He only earned three break points, all in the final set, but he converted the one he needed with a backhand return winner in the seventh game.

Isner is far from a complete package _ his groundstrokes can look awkward, his volleys can fly all over the place, his footwork is not fully refined.

``He can obviously improve a lot,'' Nieminen said.

But Isner does have that special serve. He hit 144 aces in five matches en route to reaching the final at his second tour event, on hard courts at Washington this month.

``He's obviously a guy that you don't want to play. He's one of those guys in the draw you don't want any part of,'' said seven-time major champion John McEnroe. ``He's 6-9, huge serve _ it's crazy to play a guy like that. You're not used to that. He seems like he's a late developer, but he could be a real force.''

While Young next faces No. 13 Richard Gasquet _ who compared the kid's game to former No. 1 Marcelo Rios and said, ``His progress is incredible'' _ Isner gets 146th-ranked qualifier Rik de Voest of South Africa.

Isner hadn't heard of de Voest. He does know a thing or two about his possible third-round opponent, though: Federer, bidding to become the first man since the 1920s to win this major four consecutive years.

Until recently, would even being a victory away from a Grand Slam meeting against Federer have seemed possible?

``I wouldn't have believed it a month ago,'' Isner said with a smile. ``But now I'm obviously not thinking about that at all. I've got, you know, one more match until then. I'm not in any position where I can look ahead. Maybe he can, but not me.''