Top seeds John Isner and Samantha Stosur were ousted from the ATP and WTA Washington Open in Friday's quarterfinals, each paying the price for squandering leads in tie-breakers. Isner unleashed a 29-ace barrage at US fifth seed Steve Johnson but failed to capitalize on five set points in the first set and seven in the second in falling 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (17/15). "Those were very easily tie-breakers I could have won but I didn't," Isner said. "I had countless chances. I did a lot of really great things. I put more pressure on him than he did on me. It didn't pay off." Isner made his first double fault on the penultimate point, then smacked a forehand wide to hand Johnson the victory after an hour and 57 minutes, the last 23 minutes of it in the tension-packed tie-breaker. "I shot myself in the foot in the second set," Isner said. Johnson, ranked a career-high 25th, next faces another serve smasher in 37-year-old Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who blasted 26 aces to dispatch US sixth seed Jack Sock 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (8/6). Australia's Stosur, the 2011 US Open champion, lost 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to US wildcard Jessica Pegula after dropping the last six tie-breaker points and losing the only break point of the second set. "I was up 4-1 in the tie-breaker and let that go. Probably that was it," Stosur said. Pegula, at 22, was 10 years younger than Stosur and at 173rd in the world was 159 spots below the Aussie in the rankings. She was aided by a practice Sunday with Stosur. Pegula will face 122nd-ranked Lauren Davis in a semi-final after the American beat Italy's Camila Giorgi 6-4, 6-4. The other semifinal sends Belgian seventh seed Yanina Wickmayer against Kazakh sixth seed Yulia Putintseva. French second seed Gael Monfils avoided the upset bug by downing US eighth seed Sam Querrey 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. His semifinal foe will be seventh-seeded German 19-year-old Alexander Zverev, who eliminated French fourth seed Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-3. "I like him. It's going to be a big match," said Monfils, who is 2-0 against Zverev, including a February quarter-final win at Rotterdam. Zverev, ranked 27th, is the youngest player in the top 30 since Rafael Nadal in 2005. He reached his first two ATP finals in Halle and Nice over the past two months. Monfils, 29, seeks a sixth career title, his first since 2014 in Montpellier, his first ever title outside of Europe and first outdoor crown since Sopot in 2005. Lorenzi becomes oldest 1st-time ATP winner Paolo Lorenzi of Italy became the oldest first-time winner of an ATP event Saturday after beating Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-3, 6-4 in the Generali Open final. At 34 years and seven months, Lorenzi is one month older than Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic when he won his maiden title in Quito, Ecuador, last year. The 48th-ranked Lorenzi, who was seeded fourth, appeared in his second career final after losing to Federico Delbonis of Argentina at Sao Paolo two years ago. The 123rd-ranked Basilashvili was the first Georgian player to appear in an ATP final. Lorenzi was in control of the first set after breaking Basilashvili in the opening game. The Italian converted his first match point on the Georgian's serve in the second set.
