ATP roundup: Top seed Isner wins another marathon
John Isner, known for his habit of playing long matches, continued the trend Friday by overcoming fellow American Tennys Sandgren 7-6 (8), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2) to move on to the semifinals of the Intrum Stockholm Open in Sweden. The top-seeded Isner has played two matches at the tournament thus far, with all six sets going to tiebreakers. Isner, who moved into ninth in the ATP world rankings with the victory, endured a 2-hour, 52-minute match that lasted deep into the evening for the second consecutive night. The 33-year-old served 19 aces without a double fault, advancing to face Latvian Ernests Gulbis, who upset fourth-seeded American Jack Sock 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first ATP-level semifinal since October of 2015. In other matches, Greek No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-6 (4) while second-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy advanced after South Korean No. 6 seed Hyeon Chung retired during their match after Fognini held a 7-5, 2-1 lead. VTB Kremlin Cup There will be an all-Russian semifinal in Moscow, pitting No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev against No. 3 seed Karen Khachanov. Medvedev took three sets to best lucky loser Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. Meanwhile, good friend Khachanov beat Mirza Basic of Bosnia-Herzegovina 6-2, 7-6 (5). In another quarterfinal match, Frenchman Adrian Mannarino survived a challenge before defeating qualifier Egor Gerasimov of Belarus 7-6 (3), 6-3. In advancing, Mannarino fought off five set points in the opening set in winning the 91-minute match. The other semfinalist will be Italian Andreas Seppi, who upset fourth-seeded Serbian Filip Krajinovic 6-4, 7-6 (2) in a match just under 2 hours. European Open Second-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman ousted fifth-seeded Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 37 minutes to reach the semifinals at Antwerp, Belgium. The 26-year-old Schwartzman is trying to reach the finals at Belgium for the third straight year. He next will face another Frenchman in Gael Monfils, who used 10 aces to knock out Canadian Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 6-4. No. 4 seed Richard Gasquet, also of France, endured a struggle before beating Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (9). Gasquet was forced to save a match point down in the deciding set's tiebreaker to reach his sixth tour semifinal in 2018. Top-seeded Kyle Edmund of Great Britain advanced in a walkover past Ilya Ivashka of Belarus. --Field Level Media
