LONDON -- John Isner has now entered the portion of our program, the third round, where he traditionally departs from the All England Club.
He has been a top-10 player and his massive serve is often unhittable when it careens off the grass surface here, but he also has failed to book a ticket to the second week in his previous six outings.
To break through the ceiling this time, the 6-foot-10 American is going to have to beat reigning US Open champion Marin Cilic. On Wednesday, Isner beat Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-2, 7-6 (8), 6-4 in a match that clocked less than two hours. Cilic, who has been to the second week here three times, including last year's journey to the quarterfinals, was forced to work much harder. He needed 3 hours, 34 minutes to beat Ricardas Berankis 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-5.
That's a win for No. 17-seeded Isner, who has been serving well. He had 23 more aces against Ebden, giving him 61 for the tournament, which leads all players.
So, should Isner be showing better results at Wimbledon?
"I think so," he said. "I had that one year where I hurt my knee in the first game of the match, and I don't know if you remember, I was in that section of the draw where I became the highest-ranked player in that whole section. Everyone had went out. That was very disappointing.
"I had the super-long match one year. Then, last year, I lost to [Feliciano] Lopez in the third round who is very tough on grass. In a match with a bunch of tiebreakers, not many breaks of serve, it could have gone either way. I haven't had great results here, but a bit of it's been some bad luck with that injury and I have run into some tough opponents, as well."
Fellow American Denis Kudla was a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 winner against highly touted 18-year-old Alexander Zverev, while Steve Johnson fell to No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov, 7-6 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (2). Dimitrov reached last year's semifinals, the best Grand Slam singles effort of his career.