John Isner bit down on the bottom of his canary-colored shirt as replay showed his first serve strayed wide of the sideline on match point. Then Isner created closure with one more imposing swing of his right arm.
Fighting back from a break down, the lanky American pounded 11 of his 20 aces in the final set—the last on a second serve—and persistently pushed forward at crunch time in edging Wawrinka, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 7-6 (5) in the opening round of the Pairs Masters.
Catching up to Isner's serve on an indoor hard court can be as challenging as trying to swipe the registration sticker off the windshield of a speeding car. The 6'9" tower of power leads the ATP in aces (771 in just 53 matches) and percentage of service games won (90 percent), as the sound of the ball bursting off his strings can make a felt tennis ball sound as foreboding as a wrecking ball. But Wawrinka, who was fresh off the Basel semifinals on Saturday, squeezed out the opening set and gamely fought off the first eight break points he faced.
Wawrinka has the weathered, leathery face of a fighter and possesses the burly body and strong shoulders of a bouncer. When he has time to set up and turn his shoulders into his brilliant one-handed backhand, it's an imposing weapon. Serving at 4-5 in the second set, the 16th-ranked Swiss belted a backhand winner down the line to save a set point, then staved off two more, eventually holding for 5-all, as Isner crashed a return off the Corona sign affixed to the net and restrained the urge to pummel his Prince racquet to the court.
Haunted by the hangover of opportunity lost, Isner fell into a 0-30 hole, but bailed himself out with a pair of aces before holding for 6-5. Playing ultra-conservative return games, Isner has converted just 34 percent of break points, which is among the worst percentages of any Top 50 player this year. But he stayed the course, scraping a mid-court backhand at Wawrinka, who knocked a volley into net to hand Isner a fourth set point. He converted on a Wawrinka error to take the 58-minute second set and level the match.
This was an interesting tactical match-up, as Isner is at his best running around his backhand and firing his inside-out forehand, but sometimes found Wawrinka sitting on his favored backhand in response. Ultimately, Isner's willingness to attack net was pivotal: He won 24 of 39 trips to net, compared to Wawrinka's 11 of 27 net points.
Still, the Swiss broke to open the third set. But Wawrinka played too passively on a forehand approach soon after, as Isner ripping a forehand pass down the line to break back for 2-all. Relying on his seismic serve, Isner opened a 6-3 lead in the breaker and closed with a hellacious second offering.
The departure of Juan Martin del Potro could open the draw a bit for Isner, who has failed to survive the second round in two prior Paris appearances.
—Richard Pagliaro