Young upsets former Classic champion
By David Woods
Aug. 5, 2008 8:16 p.m.
In the first major upset of the 2008 Countrywide Classic, American Donald Young knocked off eighth seed Tommy Haas 6-2, 6-4 during the Tuesday night session.
Haas, a champion at the Countrywide Classic in 2004 and 2006, seemed off throughout the match, drilling ball after ball into the net on seemingly easy returns.
Young, for his part, mostly looked sharp. Although his first serve percentage was only 50 percent, his second serve seemed to confuse Haas, as the German player was unable to properly adjust to the high bounce and good spin Young was putting on the ball. Haas tried moving in on Young’s second serve at certain points, but began to play more cautiously after miss-hitting a couple of returns.
The first set was remarkably uncompetitive, as Young broke Haas’ serve twice and cruised to a 5-1 games lead. Haas won just 50 percent of his service points in the first set. Young’s quickness across the court seemed to cause Haas problems, as the American was able to get to return nearly everything that Haas sent over the net.
The second set was more competitive and went without a break of service until the ninth game, when Young took a game off of a few Haas errors – including when he sent an easy point into the net to go down 0-30. Young then held his serve for the victory.
Young’s win leaves the already fairly weak field without one of its stars in Haas.
SAFIN TAKES DOWN ISNER: Marat Safin was able to get past big John Isner and his powerful serve on Tuesday, defeating the American 6-3, 6-4. Although Isner held the lead in aces, Safin had a better overall percentage on service points won, winning 74 percent to Isner’s 62.
NEXT UP: Wednesday’s order of play is as follows: At noon, Feliciano Lopez will take on Denis Gremelmayr, which will be followed by Florent Serra versus Fernando Verdasco. In the 4 p.m. match, Americans Mardy Fish and Vincent Spadea will face off. And in the night session, Wayne Odesnik will face Marat Safin, while Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana will take on Scott Lipsky and David Martin in doubles play.
