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NEW YORK -- A week ago, John Isner saw his three-year run as the United States No. 1-ranked man come to an end. On Monday, the same day that top ranking was restored, the No. 20 seed at the US Open was stretched to his outer limits by an 18-year-old fellow American.Frances Tiafoe, the youngest player in the mens draw, had several choice looks at this first-round match, but Isner came back from a two-set deficit to beat his good friend 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (3).On a torrid day when the temperature soared into the 90s at the National Tennis Center, the two players were on court for a draining 3 hours, 27 minutes.In a time of transition in mens tennis -- Roger Federer is notably absent here for the first time this century -- Tiafoes near victory underlined the incoming blast of fresh air from the next generation. Tiafoe is ranked No. 125 among ATP World Tour players, some 104 spots below Isner, and is the 13th-ranked U.S. man.Before the tournament, Tiafoe danced to hip-hop music with Gael Monfils on stage at a food-tasting event and declared he was happy to be playing the 31-year-old Isner, who was riding a 10-match winning streak in the first round of Grand Slams.Even this stage, the inaugural mens match on the spanking-new 8,200-seat Grandstand Stadium, was not too big for Tiafoe, his lime-green ensemble and fearless forehand. After scorching a cross-court winner to force the third-set tiebreaker, the teenager broke into a smile and playfully gestured to the raucous crowd with both hands for more applause.Believe it or not, Tiafoe outpointed Isner 149-148.One guy was 13 years older than his opponent, but it was an absolute pleasure, Isner said, after embracing Tiafoe and telling him to keep it going. His backhand is world-class. His backhand return is world-class. He was handling my serve better than anyone, really, maybe outside of Novak [Djokovic]. I mean, he was really on it.Previously, Tiafoe had won only a single ATP-level match this year (over fellow American teenager Taylor Fritz at Indian Wells), but he created some late-summer momentum by reaching the final in the Lexington, Kentucky, Challenger, losing to American Ernesto Escobedo. Tiafoe won his first Challenger title a week later in Granby, Canada.Three weeks later, Escobedo, 20, and Tiafoe provided first-round highlights in their home Grand Slam. After splitting four sets with Lukas Lacko, Escobedo won by retirement Monday.In another All-American battle, No. 26 seed Jack Sock outlasted the up-and-coming 18-year-old Fritz, 7-6 (3), 7-5, 3-6, 1-6, 6-4. The match ran a robust 3 hours, 21 minutes.Tiafoes poise was remarkable. The 6-foot-10 Isner is the ATP World Tours leader in service rating, and he stroked 35 aces. Still, Tiafoe managed to create 11 break-point opportunities -- and he converted four of them. On the other side, Tiafoe actually won one more service games and, according to tournament statistics, stroked one offering 142 mph -- 3 mph faster than Isners fastest.It hurts, Tiafoe acknowledged after the first official five-set match of his young life. I cant wait to come back here next year.Tiafoe grew up around the game as the son of a custodian for a tennis academy in College Park, Maryland. He won the USTA Boys 18s national championship last year and received a wild card into the US Open, where he lost in the first round. Hes played mostly Challengers this year but received another wild card into this years tournament.Experience was the difference for Isner, who is closing in on his seventh straight season in the top 20.Just gotta stay with it, Isner said of his comeback. You know, Ive done a lot of good things in my career. [I] tried to enjoy the atmosphere. Sort of tipped the match in my favor.I was obviously a bit tired, but that gave me a lot of energy going forward.Isner, who has been to one major quarterfinal -- here in 2011 -- tends to play long matches in the early going, which wears him down in the third and fourth rounds. It happened again Monday, but it turns out his second-round opponent on Wednesday, Belgiums Steve Darcis, needed 4 hours, 11 minutes to dispatch Jordan Thompson.After grinding it out against Tiafoe, Isner couldnt say enough about the teenager.I think the best thing he has going for him is hes just an incredible athlete, Isner said. You cant really teach that. Hes got wheels. Hes got the hands. Hes got shots on both sides.One area, if he improves his second serve a little bit, I would certainly buy stock in him right now, for sure. He has a fantastic future. 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Then the Pacers gave Oladipo and his Orlando teammates the cold shoulder. Paul Georges buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter spurred a 21-4 run, finally sending Indiana past the Magic 97-87 in a tougher-than-expected opening night matchup. At the end of the first Test against Sri Lanka, Australia faced something like 25 successive maidens. Was this a record? asked Brian Gladwin from Australia Steve OKeefe hit a four from the fifth delivery of the 63rd over of the final innings in Pallekele - his only scoring shot in 98 balls - to take Australia to 161 for 8, after which they faced 154 further deliveries (25.4 overs) without scoring a single run. OKeefe and Peter Nevill faced 138 of those (including the ball that dismissed Nevill), then OKeefe and last man Josh Hazlewood had 16 more. Such a scoreless sequence is easily a Test record - England went 92 balls without scoring, largely against Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine, as they slipped to defeat against West Indies at Lords in 1950. Charles Davis, the assiduous Australian statistician, has pinpointed another possible similar barren run: on the first day of the first Test in Melbourne in 1882-83, Alec Bannerman and Billy Murdoch patted back 22 successive four-ball maidens from Billy Barnes, Dick Barlow and Willie Bates. Thats 88 deliveries without a run, and its possible it was as many as 92 in all.The four opening partnerships in the second Test in Sri Lanka managed just eight runs. Is this a record low? asked Stephen Anderson from Australia The openers certainly struggled in the second Test in Galle. Dimuth Karunaratne of Sri Lanka was dismissed by the first ball of the match, then Joe Burns fell to the second ball of Australias reply. In the second innings, Kaushal Silva fell in the second over with the score on 5, then Burns was again out in the first over, with three runs on the board. There have been two other instances of four opening partnerships adding up to eight runs in a Test: by England (5 and 3) and New Zealand (0 and 0, with Roger Twose bagging a pair) at Edgbaston in 1999, swiftly followed by West Indies (4 and 0) and Zimbabwe (0 and 4) in Port-of-Spain in 1999-2000. But the clear winner comes from another Caribbean Test. In Kingston in 2006, the opening partnerships for West Indies (0 and 0, with a pair for Chris Gayle) and India (1 and 1) amounted to just two runs.At Edgbaston England trailed by 103 runs on first innings, yet won by 141. Is this the biggest turnaround by runs in a Test? asked Richard Shavei-Tzion from Israel Well, there have been three Tests which were won by a team which followed-on - by England against Australia at Sydney in 1894-95 and at Headingley in 1981, and by India against Australia in Kolkata in 2000-01, so I suppose those would be the biggest turnarounds of all. But England at Edgbaston last week provided only the eighth instance of a team winning by more than 100 runs after being more than 100 behind on first innings - and England were also the last to do it, against New Zealand at Lords last year. It happened twice in the 12 months before that, as well: Sri Lanka beat England by 100 runs at Headingley in 2014 after being 108 behind on first innings, while New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 193 in Wellington in 2014-15 after trailing by 135. The first instance was in 1931-32, when Australia (160 behind on first innings) beat South Africa by 169 runs in Melbourne; South Africa turned the tables inn Johannesburg in 1966-67, defeating Australia by 233 runs after trailing by 126.dddddddddddd. India in Kolkata in 2000-01 trailed by a whopping 274 runs, but won by 171 after the heroics of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, and finally Australia beat Sri Lanka by 197 runs in Galle in 2003-04, after starting their second innings 161 adrift. Yasir Shah now has 90 wickets from 15 Tests. Is this a record? asked Nigel Cooke from Jamaica Despite his relative lack of success in the second and third Tests of the current series - he struck only once at Old Trafford, and three times at Edgbaston - Yasir Shah still has more wickets after 15 Tests than anyone else in history. The 19th-century England pace bowler George Lohmann had 89, while his contemporary Tom Richardson totalled 88 from just 14 Tests in all. Sydney Barnes, Clarrie Grimmett and Vernon Philander all had 87 wickets after 15 Tests. Lohmann took 12 wickets in his 16th match, against South Africa in Johannesburg in 1895-96, so Yasir has his work cut out in the final Test at The Oval if he is to stay ahead - and equal Lohmanns record for the fewest matches required to reach 100 wickets.New Zealands 582 for 4 in Bulawayo was apparently their highest total against Zimbabwe. But was it also their highest total away from home? asked Joan Fernandes from the UAE New Zealands 582 for 4 in the second Test in Bulawayo at the weekend improved their highest total against Zimbabwe, which was set all of a week earlier - 576 for 6, also in Bulawayo. Before that their highest against Zimbabwe was 495 for 7, in Napier in 2011-12, which also led to an innings victory. New Zealand have made 11 higher totals in all Tests, four of them away from home, including their highest of all - 690 against Pakistan in Sharjah in 2014-15. They also amassed 630 for 6 against India in Mohali in 2003-04, 624 v Australia in Perth in 2015-16, and 593 for 8 against South Africa in Cape Town in 2005-06. For the full list of New Zealands highest Test totals, click here.Who took five wickets from the last 17 balls he bowled in Test cricket? asked Brian Murdoch from Australia The man who produced this stunning finish was the Australian medium-pacer Gervys Gerry Hazlitt, in the last match of the one and only Triangular Tournament, in England in 1912. Bowling cutters to good effect on a rain-affected track at The Oval, Hazlitt took 5 for 1 in his last 17 balls to finish with career-best figures of 7 for 25 in 21.4 overs. His success, though, enabled Englands bowlers to get at the Australian batsmen before the conditions improved: Subsequent events proved that his astounding success was for England a blessing in disguise, reported Wisden, as it led to victory before the end of the day. Australia were skittled for 65, and England won by 244 runs to take the triangular series, that also included South Africa. Australia didnt play another Test until after the First World War, by which time the unfortunate Hazlitt had died. He succumbed to a heart condition in 1915, aged just 27.Send in your questions using our feedback form. ' ' '