NICE — Second-seeded John Isner hit 16 aces to reach the quarterfinals of the Open de Nice in a tight all-American contest with Steve Johnson Tuesday. Isner was made to play for nearly two hours by the 55th-ranked Johnson before sealing a 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3 victory. “It was a pretty good match, I thought we both played pretty well,” Isner said. “In the third set, I was fortunate to get that break and held on from there.” No. 8 seed Juan Monaco also made it to the quarterfinals after he broke Sam Querrey five times in a 6-3, 6-1 win. Sixth-seeded Nick Kyrgios used his strong serve to reach the second round with a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over Mikhail Kukushkin. The 30th-ranked Australian will next face Dominic Thiem. French qualifier Gianni Mina advanced when fifth-seeded Bernard Tomic retired with a virus after losing the opening set 6-2, and James Duckworth rallied past lucky loser Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2 to set up a second-round match with top-seeded Gilles Simon. Seventh-seeded Jack Sock lost 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 to Dusan Lajovic in the first round and wild card Lucas Pouille breezed past Tim Smyczek 6-3, 6-0. Vinci, Knapp advance Seeded Italians Roberta Vinci and Karin Knapp advanced to the Nuremberg Cup quarterfinals with comfortable second-round victories Tuesday. Vinci, the No. 4 seed, defeated Czech player Tereza Smitkova 6-2, 6-1, and Knapp, the No. 6, prevailed over German wild card Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-1, 6-3. Also, Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi rallied to beat Zhang Shuai of China 1-6, 6-3, 6-1. Stosur thru In France, third-seeded Samantha Stosur advanced to the quarterfinals of the Strasbourg International with a walkover after opponent Lesia Tsurenko withdrew with a back injury Tuesday. Stosur, a former finalist at the French Open, will next play Ajla Tomljanovic, who defeated Shelby Rogers 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-2. Also, Sloane Stephens lost only five points on her first serve and broke once in each set to join them in the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over sixth-seeded Coco Vandeweghe in an all-American match at the clay-court tournament. Next up for Stephens will be either second-seeded Jelena Jankovic or Zheng Saisai. — Agencies
