John Isner: sent packing

Philipp Kholschreiber beat John Isner 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4) on Saturday to end US interest in the men’s draw at the US Open.

It’s the third straight year that Kohlschreiber has eliminated Isner at the same stage at Flushing Meadows, a coincidence that Isner called “a very weird situation”.

“I never expected I could see him again this year in that round,” said Isner, who was grasping for an explanation after losing a match in which he fired 42 aces and didn’t drop his serve once.

“You tell me going into the match I’m not going to lose my serve, you’d think I’d win the match,” Isner said.

Isner, the 13th seed and the highest-ranked American man at 15, and Sam Querrey were the only US men to make it to the third round.

Only three American men, from 12 home-grown contenders, had made it to the second round, the fewest in US Open history.

Tim Smyczek was beaten in the round of 64 by Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, and before Isner took the court, top-seeded Novak Djokovic easily neutralized Querrey’s big serve to dispatch the 57th-ranked American 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Isner, however, was in no mood to parse the state of American men’s tennis.

“It’s disappointing for me personally, not for America as a whole,” he said. “It’s disappointing to go out in the third round three years in a row to the same guy.

“America as a whole, that’s not for me to worry about.”

Plenty of hand-wringing will ensue however, with Andy Roddick’s 2003 US Open triumph marking the last time an American man hoisted a Grand Slam trophy.