Big-hitting John Isner and fellow American Steve Johnson did not allow long periods of rain, drizzle and mist to derail their advance at the weather-hit Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati Tuesday. Isner powered his way past Italian Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-2, while the bearded Johnson, fresh off his Rio Olympics bronze in the doubles, defeated Argentine left-hander Federico Delbonis 6-4, 7-5 to reach the second round of the Masters 1000 event. US teenager Jared Donaldson is threatening to join them after winning the first set 6-2 against world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka. The 18-year-old wildcard twice broke the second seed in winning the opening set, helped by a rash of unforced errors from Wawrinka, before the Swiss settled down and swept the first three games of the second set. Play was then called for the day with the return of more rain. Rain through the day and into the night plagued the hardcourt run-up to the US Open, leaving four men's matches and three women's contests still to finish to complete the first round. Double Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray is waiting to face the winner of a match between Juan Monaco of Argentina and Ivo Karlovic of Croatia. Monaco leads 6-4, 5-3. Another US teenager tasted defeat as Russian Mikhail Youzhny dismissed 18-year-old Taylor Fritz 6-1, 6-3. The Russian qualifier advanced to a second-round match against Japan's Kei Nishikori. Gael Monfils of France, seeded ninth, beat Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4, while his 13th-seeded compatriot Richard Gasquet battled past another Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-1. Next up for Isner is fourth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic, the world No. 6, who has lost to the American in all three of their previous meetings. Del Potro gets US Open wild card Juan Martin del Potro was Tuesday rewarded for his dramatic run to the Olympics final with a wild card into the US Open, the tournament where he made his name as champion in 2009. The 27-year-old Argentine defied his world ranking of 141 to beat Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on his way to the Olympic gold medal match in Rio Sunday. After a four-hour marathon final, the exhausted former world No. 4 was defeated by defending champion Andy Murray and had to be content with a silver medal. Del Potro's career went into a tailspin after his 2009 US Open triumph with three wrist surgeries pushing him to the brink of retirement. The United States Tennis Association also awarded wild cards to Olympic mixed doubles silver medalist Rajeev Ram and American youngsters Bjorn Fratangelo and Frances Tiafoe. In the women's singles, wild card recipients included Olympic mixed doubles gold medalist Bethanie Mattek-Sands and France's Virginie Razzano. The US Open, the final Grand Slam of the year, gets under way in New York on Aug. 29.
