ATLANTA — Top seeded John Isner edged wild card Christian Harrison 7-6 (11/9), 4-6, 7-5 on Thursday to book a quarterfinal berth at the ATP Atlanta Open. Isner fired 29 aces but needed two hours and 24 minutes to get past the tenacious 19-year-old, whose elder brother Ryan Harrison booked a quarter-final berth earlier in the day. Christian Harrison had made his ATP Tour singles debut on Wednesday with a victory over Alejandro Falla — surprising many but not his older brother. “I think a lot of people were shocked, but I wasn't shocked, he wasn't shocked, he has that expectation of himself where he feels he belongs,” said Ryan Harrison, who reached the last eight with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands. Harrison will play Colombian Santiago Giraldo who was leading Michael Russell 5-7, 6-3, 3-0 when the American retired from their match. Isner will play compatriot James Blake, who reached his first quarterfinal of the season with a brisk 6-3, 6-2 victory over eighth-seeded Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 6-2. Blake broke Donskoy's serve three times and saved all four break points he faced in the 64-minute encounter. “I always feel like the hard-court summer is my best chance to get points, I'm playing my best tennis,” Blake said. In other second-round matches, Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin defeated fifth seed Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan 7-5, 6-2. Istomin will play second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, who beat Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden 6-7 (7/9), 6-2, 6-2. The remaining quarterfinal was set on Wednesday, when seventh-seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt advanced to a meeting with Croatian Ivan Dodig. Hanescu stops Brands Former Swiss Open winner Victor Hanescu rudely interrupted the dream week of Daniel Brands with a 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal win to knock the conqueror of Roger Federer out of the Swiss Open Friday. Less than 24 hours after stunning the Swiss top seed who was carrying a back injury, Brands himself was sent home by Hanescu, 2008 champion on the high-altitude clay of this alpine village. Brands took treatment on court three games into the second set on the way to the loss in 70 minutes. Hanescu, ranked 54th to the 55 of Brands, won his tenth match at Gstaad, finishing with five aces and a break of serve per set. The Romanian next takes on sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny, a winner over fourth-seeded tournament debutant Juan Monaco 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7). Monaco was playing his sixth quarterfinal of the season, but was unable to stop Youzhny from reaching a second Gstaad semifinal in three years. The No. 33 Russian's most recent success was a runner-up spot against Federer on the grass of Halle, Germany, last month. The 31-year-old Youzhny won his 23rd match of 2013 and his tenth on clay at a venue where the surface plays more like a hardcourt due to its location 800 meters above sea level. The victory took just over two and a half hours. With crowds understandably down after the shock exit of 2004 winner Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka was hoping to take up the slack as he played for a semifinal spot against Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. The tenth-ranked Swiss is competing in Gstaad for the tenth time, with a 2005 final his best showing. The other quarter-final pits Dutchman Robin Haase against Spain's Marcel Granollers. Haase has a decent record on mountain clay and will be defending the Kitzbuehel title next week in Austria. — Agencies
