Isner, Raonic advance in Newport
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Big-servers John Isner and Canadian Milos Raonic were a pair of opening-round winners Tuesday at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
The top-seeded and defending champion Isner scalded 20 aces before holding off Ukrainian qualifier Sergei Bubka 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3, while the third-seeded Raonic blasted 26 aces before overcoming Aussie Matthew Ebden 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
The 6-foot-9 Isner beat Belgian Olivier Rochus in last year's finale on the grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
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Up next for Isner will be Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, which will mark a rematch of their epic opening-round Wimbledon match two years ago, a match that was more than 11 hours long and played out over three days at the All England Club. Isner won that one.
Second-seeded rising Japanese Kei Nishikori advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Dutchman Igor Sijsling, while unseeded American Sam Querrey ousted fifth- seeded Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). Querrey was the Newport runner-up in 2009.
Upsets came when American qualifier Tim Smyczek doused fourth-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-3 and South African qualifier Izak Van der Merwe dismissed eighth-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 6-4.
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Rajeev Ram, who surprised Querrey in an all-American final here three years ago, handled Slovenian Grega Zemlja 6-3, 6-1 on Tuesday.
Additional Day-2 wins came for American Jesse Levine and German qualifier Benjamin Becker.