Former College Standouts Isner and Devvarman Shine on Monday

Joe Samuel Starnes — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:27:12 +0000

Reigning NCAA champion from Ole Miss Devin Britton played the big match in the spotlight on Monday, losing in three to Roger Federer on the Ashe Court, but it was former two-time champ Somdev Devvarman and one-time runner up John Isner who came through with the big wins.

Isner, a former University of Georgia star ranked 55 in the world and rising, held off an amazing 10 set points in his three-set win over the 28 seed, Victor Hanescu of Romania. Isner next plays a Turkish qualifier, Marsel Ilhan, ranked 231 in the world.

Devvarman is a native of India who despite winning the NCCA men’s singles in 2007 (beating Isner in the final) and again in 2008 was snubbed by the USTA and did not get a wild card bid to the U.S. Open in either year as Britton did this year. Devvarman came into the tournament this year ranked 162 and had to win three matches in the qualies last week to make the main draw. On Monday he won handily, besting 106-ranked Fredirico Gil of Portugal in straight sets. Devvarman’s next match is against No. 23 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. I’m pulling for him to go a few more rounds, maybe even farther, and show the NCAA that he deserved wild card bids the past two years, the omission of which was an insult to college tennis.

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Former College Standouts Isner and Devvarman Shine on Monday