Eleventh-seeded John Isner reached the second round of the Western & Southern Open ATP/WTA Cincinnati Masters with a relatively easy 6-3, 6-4 win over Kevin Anderson on Monday night.
The match was just the second in their 10 meetings in which at least one set didn’t go a tiebreaker. Fifteenth-seeded Fabio Fognini avoided an upset, pulling out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Also, Gilles Simon earned a second-round match against top-seeded Novak Djokovic with a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Bernard Tomic.
The 16th-seeded Tommy Robredo survived a first-set tiebreaker to advance to the second round with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over wild-card American Jack Sock.
Fernando Verdasco needed three sets to beat Marcel Granollers, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(5).
Three other seeded women who played on Monday advanced to the second round. Ninth-seeded Ana Ivanovic came from behind in the second set to beat Sorana Cirstea, 6-1, 7-5, while 12th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki defeated Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-2, 6-3, in a match that was interrupted by a late-afternoon storm and 13th-seeded Flavia Pennetta prevailed over qualifier Chanelle Scheepers, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-2.
Samantha Stosur will meet top-seeded Serena Williams after defeating Varvara Lepchenko, 6-2, 7-5.
The results: Men: First round: Gael Monfils bt Federico Del Bonis 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Fernando Verdasco bt Marcel Granollers 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(5); Marinko Matosevic bt Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 7-6(4); Benjamin Becker bt Ivo Karlovic 7-6(5), 6-4; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Tommy Robredo bt Jack Sock 7-6(5), 6-3; Lu Yen-Hsun bt Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-4; Gilles Simon bt Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-2; John Isner bt Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-4; Fabio Fognini bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5).
Women: First round: Pauline Parmentier bt Casey Dellacqua 7-6(4), 6-2; Karin Knapp bt Belinda Bencic 6-2, 7-6(1); Madison Keys bt Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-4; Caroline Wozniacki bt Magdalena Rybàrikovà 6-2, 6-3, Ana Ivanovic bt Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 7-5, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova bt Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-3, Flavia Pennetta bt Chanelle Scheepers 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-2, Samantha Stosur bt Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 7-5.
