Isner overcomes Rochus in opener

American John Isner literally fired his way through to the sec0nd round as he produced 24 aces on his way to victory against Belgian Olivier Rochus, winning 7-6 (1)  6-4.

With no breaks of serve, the first set went into a tiebreak. As Isner stormed to a 5-0 lead, there was no way back for the Belgian.

Isner secured himself a crucial break at the beginning of the second set and holding his serve till the end, he set up a second round encounter against Tunisian Malek Jaziri, who ousted Yen-Hsun Lu in three sets 7-6 (10)  4-6  6-3.

The big surprise of the day came in the match between Czech Tomas Berdych and Steve Darcis, the Belgian prevailing 6-4  6-4. 14th seed Fernando Verdasco also bowed out of the tournament after Denis Istomin dismissed him in straight sets 6-4  7-6 (9).

In the other first round matches, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria beat Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-3  7-6 (4) and Philipp Petzschner ousted Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 7-6 (5)  6-1.

Tags 2012 London Olympics Fernando Verdasco John Isner Olivier Rochus Tomas Berdych