Isner powers to victory as U.S. draw level with France in Davis Cup

John Isner (right) beat Gilles Simon in straight sets to tie the Davis Cup

(CNN) -- The United States are tied 1-1 with France after the first day of the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal at the Monte Carlo Country Club in Roquebrune, France.

France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gave the hosts the initiative with a four-set 7-5 6-2 2-6 6-2 win over Ryan Harrison in the opening rubber.

But the United States hit back to level the tie as big-serving John Isner fired nine aces in a straight-set 6-3 6-2 7-5 win over Gilles Simon.

"I took the court very confident," Isner said, DavisCup.com reported.

"To me no matter who I was going to play today, I was going to feel confident no matter what. So that was the case today," he added.

"I went out there and I played very well, simple as that. I was very happy with how I played and I am happy that I was able to help the team out."

The U.S., who are without Andy Roddick or Mardy Fish, will look to the Bryan brothers (Bob and Mike) to edge them into the lead tomorrow as they face Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau.

Meanwhile in Castellon, Spain took a firm hold on their tie against Austria as Nicolas Almagro and David Ferrer recorded straight set wins over Jurgen Melzer and Andreas Haider-Maurer respectively.

The five-time champions, who are without the services of an injured Rafael Nadal, can now clinch the tie on Saturday with victory in the doubles.

Almagro was on court for just under two hours in his 6-2 6-2 6-4 win over Melzer while world No.5 Ferrer demolished Haider-Maurer 6-1 6-3 6-1 to continue his unbeaten status in Davis Cup singles matches.

"I won relatively easily and am happy with my game. Maybe the opponent played a little bit bad and made many mistakes but I played very solid and consistent," Ferrer said, DavisCup.com reported.

Over In Prague, Serbia, who are without the services of World No.1Novak Djokovic, got off to a bad start against the Czech Republic as Tomas Berdych cruised to a straight-set win over Victor Troicki 6-2 6-1 6-2.

But Janko Tipsarevic overcame Radek Stepanek in a five-set thriller 5-7 6-4 6-4 4-6 9-7 to level the tie.

The winners will face either Argentina or Croatia who are battling it out in Buenos Aires.

That tie is nicely poised after Croatian No.1 Marin Cilic beat David Nalbandian 5-7 6-4 4-6 7-6 6-3 before Juan Martin del Potro hit back leveling the match with a straight sets victory over Ivo Karlovic 6-2 7-6 6-1.

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Flight of fancy ends in Austria

Video of Max Betteridge's Engineering

FLYING HIGH: Massey engineering student Max Betteridge is flying his way to Austria after taking out the national paper aeroplane competition. He managed to keep his plane in the air for 6.82 seconds.

What is usually thrown at the back of teachers' heads has given one Massey University student a plane trip to Austria.

Third-year engineering student Max Betteridge has won an all-expenses paid trip to Salzburg, Austria, after taking out the longest airtime category in the New Zealand edition of Red Bull Paper Wings – a competition to see who can make and throw paper planes the best.

It seems a bit ridiculous, even to Mr Betteridge.

"I don't really know their motive behind it," he said. "I just went to have fun and just give it a go."

While an engineering student, Mr Betteridge said he did not come up with a new design based on advanced physics or expert knowledge of aerodynamics. Instead, he went to video website YouTube and copied world record- holder Ken Blackburn's design.

While Mr Betteridge's plane flew for 6.82 seconds – not getting close to Mr Blackburn's 27.6 seconds – it was enough to score a trip to Austria.

Mr Betteridge said he had been busy since then, getting his passport renewed and figuring out if he had any assignments due while he is away from May 2 to 7.

"It's unreal – I don't even think I'm good at paper planes," he said.

"I just had a couple of lucky goes."

He said he had been to Germany before, but not for at least 10 years.

He said he was most excited about getting to see Red Bull's Hangar-7 – a museum that houses historical helicopters, aircraft and racing cars.


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