Isner lifts American spirits

Isner: 24 aces during win

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John Isner raised the spirits of the New York crowd after American teenager Ryan Harrison squandered a fantastic opportunity to book his place in the third round of the US Open.

Qualifier Harrison failed to take any of the three match points he opened up against Sergiy Stakhovsky, and was forced to pay a heavy price by going down 6-3 5-7 3-6 6-3 7-6 (8-6).

It was a heartbreaking defeat for the 18-year-old to take, after he had kept the packed-out Grandstand crowd on their edge of their seats during the four hour 13 minute epic.

"I just got a little bit tight when I needed to come through," admitted Harrison, who was 6-3 ahead in the fifth-set tie-break before losing five successive points.

"It was incredibly fun, the first time I've played in the main draw at the US Open was two days ago and to have a crowd like that behind me was incredible.

"I'm obviously not the happiest person in the world right now, but looking back it was a great experience."

Superb

American No.2 Isner quickly lifted home spirits though with a four-set win over Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli.

Isner hammered down 24 aces on his way to a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 win in just under three hours on Louis Armstrong Court.

Isner's reward is a last 32 showdown with 12th seed Mikhail Youzhny - the 12th seeded Russian battling past Dudi Sela 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3.

Earlier in the day, unseeded Frenchman Michael Llodra continued his superb form by also advancing to round three.

Llodra knocked out Wimbledon finalist and seventh seed Tomas Berdych in straight sets in the opening round and enjoyed a similarly comfortable win against Romania's Victor Hanescu.

The 30-year-old, who had lost 22 of his previous 36 first-round matches in Grand Slams, won 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-2 to set up a clash with Spain's Tommy Robredo.

Robredo had won the first set of his match against France's Julien Benneteau 6-4 and was in a second-set tie-break when Benneteau was forced to retire hurt.

Spanish quartet Fernando Verdasco, David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and Daniel Gimeno-Traver all joined Robredo in round three with further victories on Friday afternoon.

Verdasco, seeded eight, and Ferrer, seeded 10, came through in straight-sets while Lopez battled past French qualifier Benoit Paire in five and Gimeno-Traver needed four to edge past Jeremy Chardy.