Isner Sweats Out First Major Quarterfinal Bid

New York, Sept 9  : John Isner sweated through 10 shirts and had to send someone to go get him more en rout to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the U.S. Open.

The 26-year-old American won three tiebreakers to beat 12th-seeded Gilles Simon 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) on a humid Thursday afternoon.

The big-serving Isner got broken five times, a high number for him and usually a very bad sign. Isner, seeded 28th, still won in four sets. “That's pretty encouraging,” he said.

With his powerful serve, the 6-foot-9 (2.06-meter) Isner tends to excel in tiebreakers, posting a 30-19 record this year coming into the match. He had the extra advantage of Simon feeling discouraged going into the tiebreakers after blowing chances to win the sets earlier.

Fatigue can be a problem for the big guy, but Isner proved he could beat a tough opponent in three hours, 39 minutes.

“A lot of times when I'm tired I am able to conserve energy at the right times and expend my energy at the right times,” he said. “I think today it was huge for me getting that first set because I was down a break twice, and he served for it at 6-5.”

Most famous for his marathon Wimbledon match last year, Isner now has a chance to be known as a major semifinalist. He next faces fourth-ranked Andy Murray, who emphatically ended the breakthrough run of another American, Donald Young.

The 22-year-old Young was in his first Grand Slam round of 16, upsetting 14th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka and 24th-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela along the way. A former top junior player who had struggled to live up to high expectations, Young is projected to reach a career-high ranking of around 56th.

Young was disappointed in himself after losing 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. But he knows he'll leave Flushing Meadows with far more confidence.

“By far it's the best year I have ever had on tour, so I can say that,” he said. “The tournament I have had here, the Slam is the best tournament I've ever had.”

Among the learning experiences was dealing with two straight days of rain delays. The match was supposed to begin Tuesday, but the players only got in three games Wednesday before rain postponed play again.

“I haven't had to do that, especially at this level of a tournament, this deep in a tournament,” Young said. “To get up every day, getting ready to play and not playing, it's kind of emotionally draining.”

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Melanie Oudin and Jack Sock could soon be U.S. Open champions.

The two up-and-coming American players are in the mixed doubles final, not exactly something they expected when they were waiting to hear if they'd even get a wild card into the draw. “Crazy” is how Oudin describes it. Sock goes with “insane.”

“Any Grand Slam final you get to is a great achievement, especially because mixed doubles is probably the last thing I thought I'd get to the final in, personally,” Oudin said.

The 19-year-old Oudin was the darling of the 2009 U.S. Open, reaching the women's quarterfinals. The 18-year-old Sock earned his first Grand Slam singles victory in the first round this year before being eliminated by Andy Roddick.

“To be able to come out here and be playing at the end of the second week at the Open in any event, even mixed, is a lot of confidence,” said Sock, who actually can already claim a U.S. Open title—at the junior level, after winning last year's boys tournament.

After advancing by walkover in the semifinals Thursday, the two teenagers face eighth-seeded Gisela Dulko and Eduardo Schwank of Argentina for the championship.

They fought off a match point in the first round, then faced the top-seeded defending champs, Bob Bryan and Liezel Huber.

Playing with another young American, Ryan Harrison, in the second round last year, Oudin lost to them in a tiebreak. Sock told her, “We'll take ‘em this year.” Not that he totally believed it.

“I'm not going to lie, Sock acknowledged Thursday. “I did not look past the second round too far.”

He'd lost to the top-ranked Bryan brothers in men's doubles earlier this year, a “thrashing” that lasted 38 minutes.

“I think that included the warmup,” Sock added.

But this time, Oudin and Sock beat Bryan and Huber in a tiebreak.

The two have only known each other since December.

“She was too big-time for me,” Sock said.

Now he keeps Oudin relaxed with his joking on the court.

RUSSIAN TRAGEDY: Russia's Vera Zvonareva was riveted to the TV and Internet on Wednesday while rain delayed her quarterfinal match, heartbroken by a “terrible tragedy”

out of her home country.

A plane carrying a Kontinental Hockey League team crashed, killing 43 people.

Zvonareva didn't know anyone on Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, but she's good friends with other hockey players who did.

“They're still in shock,” the second-seeded Zvonareva said after losing to Sam Stosur on Thursday. “They can't believe it.”

Zvonareva said it was safe to fly a few airlines in the country that adhere to stringent international standards, but that air safety was clearly a concern in Russia. AP