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Isner battles through in Memphis

Top seed John Isner required two tie-breakers to see off Gilles Muller in the first round of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis.

The big-serving American beat the German 7-6(1) 7-6(4) in one hour and 40 minutes. He hit 26 aces and won 48 of 50 points on his own serve.

“It was a match I knew was going to be tough,” Isner told atptour.com. “I knew I was going to have to scrap it out. I served my best, so that helped.”

He added: “Confidence comes from putting a string of matches together. I haven’t really played that many matches.

“As far as being match ready, I don’t feel like I’m quite there yet… The balls weren’t really finding the court, until the tie-breaks. I was able to find a couple lines here and there. Getting that first set under my belt was huge.”

Next up for Isner is his compatriot Donald Young, who won his opening clash on Monday.

Wildcard Sam Querrey also made it into the second round courtesy a 2-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Alejandro Falla from Colombia.

Querrey will face either seventh seed Kevin Anderson or qualifier Robby Ginepri next.

In an all-American encounter, Ryan Sweeting made a strong start and never looked back as he routed James Blake 6-0 6-2 in just 46 minutes.

In the other games, Sergiy Stakhovsky beat Robert Kendrick 6-3 7-6(6) and Ryan Harrison saw off Jack Sock 6-3 2-6 6-4.

Meanwhile over in Marseille, fifth seed Richard Gasquet dropped just two games as he beat Go Soeda in the first round of the Open 13.

The Frenchman required just 62 minutes to see off world No 82 Soeda 6-0 6-2.

Next up for the world No 15 is a clash against Igor Kunitsyn after the Russian beat qualifier Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-4, 6-4

Former World No 3 Nikolay Davydenko booked a second-round date with fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro after beating Andreas Beck 6-1 7-5.

Paul-Henri Mathieu crashed out, though, as he went down 7-6 (7/2) 2-6 6-3 against Slovakia’s Karol Beck.

Nicolas Mahut will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after he beat veteran Arnaud Clement 6-3 6-4.