UNIONDALE, N.Y.—The task of winning a match against John Isner, for a serve-heavy player like Bernard Tomic, comes down to two factors: 1) Not blinking on your own serve and 2) pulling through in the tiebreaks.
Tomic, in the second round of the New York Open on Wednesday, came ever so close to succeeding on each of those fronts, but ultimately failed on both—falling 7-6 (7), 6-4, though it felt much closer. Such are the slim margins at play when facing the game's best server.
"Nothing separated us, especially in that first set," Isner said.
Lleyton Hewitt, when asked if he'd be watching Tomic play Isner on Wednesday, said, "I may keep an eye out because Jordan Thompson plays the winner."