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15th seed for the 2016 French Open John Isner will be expecting to move through the first round easily when he takes on Australian John Millman. Join The Roar for live scores from around 12am (AEST).
Update: This match has been delayed due to rain on Day 1 of the French Open. It is now scheduled to take place at 11pm Monday (AEST).
Isner, who has been a consistent mainstay in between about 10 and 20 in the world rankings over the last half decade, is a player who relies on his power game – and that simply doesn’t suit clay courts where the ball sits up and doesn’t come off the court real well.
It shows in his career statistic, only winning 52 per cent of his matches on clay compared to a 62 per cent overall career winning percentage. The French Open is also his worst grand slam – something he will be keen to reverse.
His form tends to suggest that is going to be a difficult thing to do though. While he played solidly in his first clay court tournament at Houston, making the semi-finals after victories over the lowly ranked Denis Kudla and Hyeon Chung, he was knocked out in the first round at Geneva by Lukas Rosol – certainly not a player he should be losing too.
Millman’s worst surface is also clay, although his career winning percentage is slightly higher – up at 57 per cent. Interestingly though, he has completely avoided the red courts on his preparations for the red court grand slam, instead playing on hard courts in Miami, Busan and Seoul.
It has worked if he wanted to win matches, as the world No.60 has pulled off some strong victories.
For Millman it is his first entry into the French Open – and only his sixth ever. He has had three Australian Opens and one each at Wimbledon and the US, which came last year. In those efforts he has only cleared the first round once, but done well to create a fighting name for himself.
The pair have met once before, which won’t have much of a bearing on this match. On the hard court in Beijing it was Isner winning in three sets after Millman took the first.
If that should even be considered coming into this match then it suits Millman due to the fact he was unexpectedly able to pinch the first set.
Prediction
Isner’s worst surface is clay – it simply doesn’t suit his power game. He doesn’t appear to be in the best of form either, but he is better than a first round exit and should get the job done. It won’t be easy though.
Isner in five sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from 12am (AEST) or following the Karolina Pliskova vs Shelby Rogers match on court 1 and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde