Isner overcomes Anderson in a three-set thriller

Troicki edges out Youzhny to advance

Eighth-seeded John Isner reached the third round of the Shanghai Masters by beating Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (9-7) on Tuesday.

Neither player was able to break serve in the match, the first at the tournament to go to three tiebreakers. Isner saved three break points and Anderson saved four.

Isner finished the match with 24 aces and Anderson had 21. "The quality was good as far as serving goes," Isner said. "But other than that I think we maybe both could have played better a little bit.

"I guess it was exciting from a fan standpoint. Anytime a match comes down to a third set tiebreaker, it's going to be exciting."

In the first round, 14th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan defeated Di Wu of China 6-2, 6-4.
"Obviously, it's not easy thing to play after winning the tournament," said Nishikori, who won the Tokyo Open last week. "You want to rest. But I had a good day today."

Also, 13th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beat Albert Ramos of Spain 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-5), 15th-seeded Gilles Simon of France beat Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-4, 6-2, and Florian Mayer of Germany defeated Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-4, 6-0.

Viktor Troicki fought off a strong comeback from Russian No 1 Mikhail Youzhny to reach the second round on Tuesday. Youzhny cancelled out one of Troicki’s breaks of serve in the decider but was soon broken again as the Serb recorded a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win.

Florian Mayer set up a clash with US Open champion Andy Murray in the second round after the German crushed Australia’s Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-0.

Either French 15th seed Gilles Simon or Ukraine’s Alexander Dolgopolov will await the winner in the third round after both won their first-round matches.

Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland is to play Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in the second round, with the winner a potential third-round opponent for Swiss world No 1 Roger Federer.

Istomin stormed back from a set down to oust Argentine player Carlos Berlocq 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Richard Gasquet rediscovered the winning formula on Monday after last week's shock defeat in Beijing, cruising into the second round as Nicolas Almagro slumped to defeat.

Gasquet crashed to a humiliating loss at the China Open to Chinese wildcard Zhang Ze, who was ranked 151 places below him, just days after the Frenchman won the Thailand Open by beating compatriot Simon. But the 26-year-old, seeded 11th in Shanghai, made sure there was no repeat on the second day of action in Shanghai, winning four out of five break points to dispatch American journeyman Brian Baker 6-2, 6-3.

Tenth seed Cilic, who stands 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm) tall, joined him in the second round with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Lukasz Kubot, hitting eight aces and breaking his Polish opponent four times. But in the late evening match on Monday, Spanish ninth seed Almagro, chasing one of the last four slots at the ATP World Tour Finals, could not match his fellow seeds, slipping to defeat against Germany veteran Tommy Haas 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.

Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov set up a clash with Novak Djokovic by beating Pablo Andujar of Spain 7-5, 6-3. But he faces a daunting task against the second seed, fresh from victory at the China Open and aiming to displace Roger Federer at the top of the rankings. The number one ranking is on the line at the Shanghai Masters. Federer can guarantee he remains as the top-ranked player by reaching the quarterfinals but anything less and Djokovic would overtake the Swiss by winning the Shanghai crown. Federer is beginning his 299th week as world number one, having usurped Djokovic at the top of the leader-board after winning his 17th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. The top eight seeds get a bye into the second round.