Legg Mason Tennis Classic Scores And Results: Americans John Isner, Donald Young Into Quarterfinals

With rain hindering play Wednesday, several players had to play both second and third round matches Thursday at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC, an ATP 500-level tournament.

Here’s a look at all the third round matches, (with second round results incorporated where necessary):

Gael Monfils (France) [1/WC] def. Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-2 7-6(9) [15] -- Two of the best showmen in the game put on quite a show in the final match under the lights Thursday night. Both having played earlier in the day (Monfils against American Ryan Sweeting, Tursunov against Italian Flavio Cipolla), the two both tried to end points more quickly than usual, especially Monfils, who can often get lulled into playing only defense. Despite making some jaw-dropping gets late in this match, Monfils said in his press conference afterwards (more on that later) that he only uses “2%” of his arsenal during matches.
Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) [6] def Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) 6-4, 6-2 -- Another two players who had won matches earlier in the day (Tipsarevic over Michael Berrer, Dimitrov over No. 10 Michael Llodra via a retirement in the first set) played a terrible first round match, barely surviving against American qualifier Tim Smyczek in a third set tiebreak. But he started to play better in his abbreviated match against Llodra, and made things pretty respectable against Tipsarevic. Tipsarevic defended his run to the 2010 quarterfinals with the win, and definitely could give Monfils a scare if he gets off to a good start.
Viktor Troicki (Serbia) [3] def. Kevin Anderson (South Africa) [13] 6-3, 6-3 -- On the brink of becoming the second Serbian in the top ten, Viktor Troicki is having quite a week in Washington. A finalist here in 2008 (when the tournament overlapped with the Beijing Olympics), Troicki dispatched streaking American Ryan Harrison 7-5, 6-2 in the second round, and then took care of the big serving Anderson even more easily. Definitely going to be a tough out at this tournament.
John Isner (United States) [11] def. James Blake (United States) 7-6(0), 1-6, 7-6(4) -- John Isner has a thing for third set tiebreaks in Washington. After winning five of them in a row on the way to the finals of this tournament in 2007, he has played one in each successive year he’s been here, giving him a grand total of nine in five years. Even more impressively, his record in those nine deciders is 8-1 (his lone loss coming in 2010 to Xavier Malisse). Both Isner and Blake talked endlessly about how tough it was to play each other since they’re such close friends (to a degree the Williams sisters never complained), but for the second time this summer (after his previous win in Atlanta), Isner was the friend who got to feel “bittersweet” instead of just bitter.
Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) [7] def. [12] Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) [12] 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 -- The two players who both had to play six sets Thursday were Marcos Baghdatis (who had beaten Somdev Devvarman) and Thomaz Bellucci (who had beaten Tommy Haas). After showing some impressive lack of quit in the second set, Baghdatis (who has never been known for exceptional fitness) showed that tired shotmaking beats tired speed.
Donald Young (United States) def. Michael Russell (United States) 6-3, 6-3 -- Unseeded Americans Donald Young and Michael Russell had to be very happy to see one another across the net this late into a tournament of this size. After Russell’s shellacking of Young in Young’s hometown of Atlanta a few weeks ago, Russell had to be especially happy. But with an uncharacteristic 32 unforced errors, Russell never really sunk his teeth into the match, and the young American capitalized, making it into the biggest quarterfinal of his career.
Fernando Verdasco (Spain) [5/WC] def. Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) [9] 6-4, 7-5 -- Fernando Verdasco played a lot of tennis and done a lot of traveling in the last month. He’s defending quarterfinalist points at the US Open, so he’s clearly eager to play his way into form with as many matches as possible.After Wimbledon he flew to Austin for Spain’s Davis Cup tie against the United States, then he played in Hamburg, and then this past Sunday lost in the finals of a clay court event in Gstaad, Switzerland. He hasn’t been at his sharpest at any point during that stretch, but he’s been battling well, never moreso than against slumping Russian Nikolay Davydenko. In a classic battle of punching vs. counterpunching, the puncher won (as he normally should on these fast courts).
Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) def. Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) [16] 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 -- Radek Stepanek is arguably having the best tournament of anyone here. Into the quarterfinals of the singles draw after a somewhat shaky win over Finn Jarkko Nieminen (who seems to have finally been make it off the Challenger circuit after a slow road back from injury), Stepanek is also in the doubles semifinal with partner Tommy Haas. He also has to be a popular fellow in the locker room for the 6-1, 6-1 beatdown he gave Wayne Odesnik.

With those eight winners through, Friday’s quarterfinal schedule at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic is as follows:
Fernando Verdasco (Spain) [5/WC] vs. Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) (At 2:00) (Tennis Channel)
Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) [7] vs. Donald Young (United States) (Not before 5:00) (ESPN2)
Viktor Troicki (Serbia) [3] vs. John Isner (United States) [11] (ESPN2)
Gael Monfils (France) [1/WC] vs. Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) [6] (Not before 9:15) (Tennis Channel)

Stay tuned to SB Nation’s coverage of the 2011 US Open Series at SBNation.com as well as on Twitter, @DailyForehand .