Vincent Spadea marched on in the XL Bermuda Open after a straight sets victory over up and coming American John Isner 6-2, 7-6(5) at Coral Beach yesterday.

With rain appearing on the horizon, conditions seemed as though they would not be conducive for open free-flowing tennis.

But despite the windy weather the match had it all; serve and volleying, baseline rallies and powerful groundstrokes by both combatants leaving the crowd thrilled throughout.

The opening exchanges went back and forth with both players holding serve throughout the opening set, after Spadea broke Isner's serve in the opening game.

Isner, with his aggressive first serve and blistering forehand tried to control the match, but the charismatic Spadea held his nerve and returned all that the big American had to offer as he slowly laid the groundwork for the crucial first set.

Breaking Isner's serve twice, Spadea served out the first set with Isner letting his emotions show by flinging his racquet to the ground in disgust at his costly mistakes.

Spadea won the set 6-2 and managed to nullify Isner's power and pace.

But his awesome first serve was on display in the opening game of the second set as he produced ace after ace to take an early 1-0 lead.

He also showed he had composure and the finesse required to be competitive on the professional circuit, coming to the net to win points and using the delicate slice shot that few big men have in the game.

Yet Spadea was never out the game, showing his experience by absorbing Isner's powerful strokes and countering with his own ingenious shots.

Serves were held in the second set with neither American budging an inch.

Spadea started to show signs of nerves as he served to stay in the second set with Isner up 5-4.

A ferocious backhand winner set up Isner with two set points, but Spadea saved both to bring the game to deuce, and eventually saved three more set points before drawing level at 5-5.

The second set went to a tie-break with Isner racing to a 3-1 lead only for the experience of Spadea to shine through as he came back and earned two match points after an awesome cross-court winner.

In the end it was Spadea who came through to claim the second set 7-5 in a tiebreaker.

"I played a good first set and he came back in the second with some big serves," said Spadea.

"I knew it would be close as the match wore on and in the end it came down to a tie-breaker."

XL Bermuda Open

Coral Beach Tennis Club

and Resort

Yesterday's results

Singles

Second Round

Viktor Troicki (SRB) d

Franko Skugor (CRO), 6-16-

2

Carlos Berlocq (ARG) d Niki

ta Kryvonos (USA), 6-0 6-2

Marcel Granollers (ESP) d

Harel Levy (ISR), 6-7(8) 6-4

6-2

Vincent Spadea (USA) d

John Isner (USA), 6-2, 7-6

(5)

Doubles

First Round

Haggard (RSA)/ Luczak

(AUS) d Haider-Maurer

(AUT)/ Ludlow (USA), 6-2 6-

3

Koellerer (AUT)/ Okun (ISR)

d Skugor (CRO)/ Troicki

(SRB), 7-5 0-6 10-4

Cuevas (URU)/ Granollers

(ESP) d 6-1 6-1

Harel Levy (ISR)/ Jim

Thomas (USA) d Lucas Arnold

Ker (ARG)/ Mariano Hood

(ARG) 4-6, 6-3, 10-7

Second Round

Jones (AUS)/ Young (USA) d

Capdeville (CHI)/ Ginepri

(USA), 6-3 6-3

Today's games

Order of play

Centre Court (11pm start)

Singles

Second Round

Wayne Odesnik (USA) v Pe

ter Luczak (AUS)

Doubles

Second Round

Kryvonos (USA)/ Vacek

(CZE) v Hartfield (ARG)/ Ro

jer (AHO)

Singles

Second Round

Donald Young (USA) v Pablo

Cuevas (URU)

Doubles

Second Round

Levy (ISR)/ Thomas (USA)

or Arnold Ker (ARG)/ Hood

(ARG) v Koellerer (AUT)/

Okun (ISR)

6:30pm

Singles

Second Round

Dudi Sela (ISR) v Kei Nishikori

(JPN)

Nicolas Massu (CHI) v Ernests

Gulbis (LAT)