THE GIFTED DAVID GOFFIN WINS HIS 25th TENNIS MATCH IN A ROW, DONALD YOUNG LOSES WINSTON-SALEM THRILLER BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 20th August 2014

THE GIFTED DAVID GOFFIN WINS HIS 25th TENNIS MATCH IN A ROW, DONALD YOUNG LOSES WINSTON-SALEM THRILLER BY RICKY DIMON

epa04028090 Donald Young of the USA in action during his match against Kei Nishikori of Japan in round three of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2014. EPA/JOE CASTRO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

David Goffin improved his amazing winning streak to 25 matches by defeating Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the third round of the Winston-Salem Open on Wednesday afternoon. Nieminen became the first player to lose to Goffin twice during the current stretch, having previously succumbed to the Belgian in the final of a clay-court Challenger event in Finland.

Goffin won three straight Challenger titles, captured an ATP winner’s trophy for the first time in his career in Kitzbuhel, and so far in Winston-Salem he has won five matches–two in qualifying and three in the main draw.

“The word ‘losing’ is not in his vocabulary,” Jurgen Melzer, the defending champion, said of his conqueror after falling to Goffin in the first round.

“It’s unbelievable,” Goffin assured after beating Nieminen. “At the beginning of the summer I didn’t expect [these] results. But I won three Challengers and then an ATP 250 and now I’m still continuing to win. So I’m pretty happy (with) the way I’m playing for the moment. I have a lot of confidence right now.”

Donald Young, too, has to have plenty of confidence heading into the U.S. Open despite a tough loss on Wednesday. For the second time in three months, Young came out on the short end of a thriller against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The American dropped a five-setter to Garcia-Lopez at the French Open and in the Winston-Salem third round Young lost 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-6(6) in a match that lasted two hours and 46 minutes.

“Anytime you have a match point after saving match points and after you play for almost three hours, it’s gonna be tough to lose for sure,” Young admitted.

It was an otherwise productive day for the American contingent. No. 1 seed and hometown favorite John Isner improved to 12-0 lifetime in Winston-Salem with a 6-1, 7-6(3) victory over Mikhail Kukushkin. Sam Querrey ousted second seed Kevin Anderson 7-6(4), 6-4.

Isner will go up against Lukas Rosol in Thursday’s quarterfinals, while Querrey is set to confront Garcia-Lopez. Goffin, meanwhile, will look to keep his streak alive at the expense of Jerzy Janowicz.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Atp, David Goffin, Donald Young, Jarkko Nieminen, Kevin Anderson, Ricky Dimon, Sam Querrey, Tennis, Winston Salem Open