Cincinnati (United States) (AFP)
Concentrated and conqueror, Benoît Paire, 50th in the world, qualified Thursday for the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati by beating the American John Isner (26th) 7-6 (7/1), 6-7 (2 / 7), 6-1.
The 32-year-old Frenchman hadn't reached the quarter-finals of a tournament in this category, just below the Grand Slams, since Rome in 2013 where he even climbed in the semi-finals before losing to Roger Federer .
This time, he will face Gaël Monfils (22nd) or the Russian Andrey Rublev (7th) for a place in the last four.
Very disturbed by the sanitary bubbles imposed on the circuit since 2020, Paire had lined up six eliminations in a row as of his entry into the running since May before reaching the quarter-finals in Hamburg then Gstaad in July.
He had not been selected for the Olympics for disciplinary reasons.
On Thursday, against the 36-year-old American giant, semi-finalist at the Masters 1000 of Canada in Toronto last week and winner just before the ATP 250 in Atlanta, Paire put on another good performance after his victory in the previous round against to Canadian Denis Shapovalov (10th).
It is true that he benefited in the third set from a very clear physical decline from Isner.
But the first two sets were tight and the Frenchman overall mastered the American's enormous serve while relying on a very good throw-in despite numerous double faults.
Pair thus took Isner's throw-in from the outset before letting his opponent break the slack and push him to the tie-break.
In this decisive game, the French lost the first point before aligning seven.
In the second set, both players held their faceoffs and this time it was Isner who clearly dominated the tie break before collapsing in the deciding set.
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