Donald Young Goes Back To Back On Clay In Houston

Written by: Staff on 10th April 2014

Donald Young Goes Back To Back On Clay In Houston

epa02943401 Donald Young of USA returns the ball to Gael Monfils of France, during their semi final match at the ATP PTT Thailand Open tennis tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, 01 October 2011. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT |

By Ricky Dimon

John Isner was the only American seeded at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship and he bowed out of the tournament after just one match. A less heralded contingent of Americans, however, is picking up the slack.

In fact, three unseeded representatives of the United States are through to the quarterfinals in Houston. Donald Young, Sam Querrey, and Jack Sock have all earned two match victories this week to book their spots in the last eight.

None of the three men are particularly accomplished on clay, and this is already the best such event of Young’s career. Wins over Ryan Harrison–by a stunning 6-0, 6-1 scoreline–and Juan Monaco have given Young back-to-back victories on this surface for the first time ever. The world No. 91 did it the hard way, as he battled back from a set down to upset the sixth-seeded Monaco 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 15 minutes on Thursday afternoon.

“I’ve never won two matches in a row [on clay],” Young noted. “Definitely not over a former Top 10 guy who wins most his matches on clay. It’s a big win for me and I’m just happy to move through.”

Querrey and Sock also had to be happy with their second-round performances. Querrey’s win came on Wednesday, when he rolled over Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-4. Jack Sock advanced on Thursday with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Benjamin Becker.

Quarterfinal Friday will pit Young against Fernando Verdasco, Querrey against Dustin Brown, and Sock against Nicolas Almagro. The other quarterfinal clash will feature an all-unseeded pairing of Alejandro Gonzalez vs. Santiago Giraldo.

Topics: Clay Court, Donald Young, Houston, Ricky Dimon, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

April 10, 2014 at 10:59 pm

Donald Young Goes Back To Back On Clay In Houston – http://t.co/MVD3SnMqW2 #DonaldYoung #tennis #houston
dusanVemic says:

April 11, 2014 at 4:35 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Donald Young Goes Back To Back On Clay In Houston – http://t.co/MVD3SnMqW2 #DonaldYoung #tennis #houston