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Is there a more improved player the last quarter of the season than Donald Young? The trouble American prodigy is finally living up to his potential the last three months or so.
Yesterday, Young upset Gael Monfils in a third set tiebreaker to advance to his first career ATP final. The 22-year-old
“I’m excited, I’m stoked, all the words that mean you’re happy to be in my first final,” said Young after a 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) win over Monfils. “I’ve seen a lot of my peers make finals and I’m happy to be in my first one. It’s great to beat a Top 10 player of the calibre of Gael.”
Murray ended Young’s Cinderella run at the US Open and I expect a similar fate once again for the Chicago native later tonight in the championship match.
Still, for Young who was well out of the Top 100 just a few months ago, his tennis prospects are suddenly looking promising as he approaches the Top 40 in the world.
“Lately in the big matches I’ve won I’ve been down and I’ve had to come back. I’m just trying to fight and not give up and it pays dividends at the end of matches,” added Young.
Meanwhile Murray toughed out Gilles Simon 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 .
“It’s great to be in the final,” said Murray. “I’ve only played here a few times. I haven’t been back in a while. Hopefully I can go one further than the first time I got to the final here.”
In Kuala Lumpur, wildcard Marcos Baghdatis will clash with Janko Tipsarevic in the title bout.
Baghdatis leads Tipsarevic 2-1 in their series with Janko winning most recently in July at LA.
“I know I have to play like I did today or better to have a chance to win the final,” Tipsarevic said after beating Kei Nishikori. “Both Marcos and I are playing good tennis. He’s an experienced player, he will not give me the final. I will have to play aggressively and take it from him. I’m here to win one more match – if not it has still been a good week overall.”
Added Baghdatis after his victory over Victor Troicki, “It’s great to be in another final, but there’s still one match to go.”
And congrats to Agnieska Radwanska on beating Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2 to win in Tokyo title today.
“I was a little bit nervous at the start, but I woke up after those first two games,” Radwanska said after her sixth career title. “I had some tough matches this week – and I was playing without a bye, so I had a lot of matches in a row – but I just kept trying my best. It was the finals so I tried not to think about it and fight until the end.
“I’m very, very happy to win this tournament. All of the top players were playing here, and I played some good tennis to beat them.”
Speaking of the top players, once again many will be absent for their top flight Beijing event. Maria Sharapova is out with an ankle. Kim Clijsters is still in recovery. Venus Williams remains sidelined and sister Serena decided not to go. That’s the four biggest stars on the WTA not playing a Masters level event.
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