It wasn’t easy, but American No. 1 John Isner—playing his first match since becoming a father—beat Bradley Klahn in his opening match at the Intrum Stockholm Open on Thursday, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5).
After coming within just a few points of closing it out in straight sets—he led 4-2 in the second-set tiebreaker—the top-seeded Isner battled for two hours and 23 minutes for the dramatic win over his fellow American, ripping 31 aces along the way and not facing a single break point in 18 service games.
It was his first match since falling to Juan Martin del Potro in the US Open quarterfinals last month.
“It was extremely tough,” Isner said in his on-court interview after the match. “I didn’t think it was going to be that tough, but who knows—I think I needed a match like that to try to get me going.
“I was getting a little bit down today. I had some chances—the Hawk-Eye wasn’t in my favor tonight—but he came up with a lot of good shots and hit some lines on some big points, so I was getting a little bit frustrated. But that shouldn’t happen. Let’s see if I can correct that in the next match.
“I’m just very happy with getting the win tonight.”
It was also his first match since his daughter, Hunter, was born on September 15th.
“She may have been watching back home,” Isner added. “I don’t think she’ll remember this match, but I think she was watching with my wife. I’ll see them in a few weeks when I finish up my season.”
Awaiting the world No. 10 in the quarterfinals of the 250-level indoor event will be another American, Tennys Sandgren, who followed up his 6-4, 6-4 first-round upset over No. 5 seed Lucas Pouille with a 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3 second-round win over German qualifier Oscar Otte earlier in the day on Thursday.
Isner and Sandgren will be playing against each other for the first time.
“We’ve never played each other, so it’s going to be a different matchup out there,” Isner said. “He’s had a good year, a breakthrough year in his career, and he’s a very, very tough player. He deserves everything he’s accomplished because he works very hard, and it’s going to be a good match.”
All four quarterfinals will take place on Friday, and all four Top 4 seeds are still alive in the draw—No. 1 seed Isner, No. 2 seed Fabio Fognini, No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and No. 4 seed Jack Sock.
