Carolina native Isner reaches third round on home soil

Winston – Salem, NC (Sports Network) - Local favorite John Isner posted a round victory Tuesday at the inaugural $553,125 Winston-Salem Open.

The 6-foot-9 fourth-seeded Isner, a native of nearby Greensboro, North Carolina, swatted 17 aces in getting past Israeli Dudi Sela 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 on the hardcourts at Wake Forest University.

Fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko moved on with a 6-2, 6-2 pasting of American qualifier Michael Russell, while 10th-seeded Dutchman Robin Haase humbled former top-five American veteran James Blake 6-4, 6-1. The big-serving Haase captured his first career title in Austria three weeks ago.

Seventh-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco was an easy 7-5, 6-0 winner against German Tobias Kamke, while ninth-seeded Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky edged out Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.

Additional second-round wins came for 14th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Japanese qualifier Kei Nishikori. The promising Dimitrov topped once- promising American wild card Donald Young 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), while Nishikori upset 12th-seeded Spaniard Pablo Andujar 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.

Other upsets came when Belgian Steve Darcis overcame 11th-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 and French qualifier Julien Benneteau bounced 16th-seeded Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-1.

Canadian lucky-loser Pierre-Ludovic Duclos surprised up-and-coming American Ryan Harrison 7-5, 7-5 on Day 3. The 25-year-old Duclos, ranked 323rd in the world, replaced sixth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson in the draw.

The winner of this final U.S. Open tuneup will collect $74,630.