Andy Murray ends Donald Young’s Grand Slam run; wins in straight sets – US Open 2011
Donald Young, American world No.84, should have had oodles of self-confidence bearing into his fourth-round tie against No. 4 Brit, Andy Murray. Playing his first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal, the 22-year-old had his second meeting
with the 4thseed.
In their prior fixture, Young claimed a straight-set 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over the Brit on the fast hard track of Indian Wells. Nevertheless, Murray's experience in high-stakes fixtures made an example, and he cruised to a 6-2,
6-3, 6-3 win to end the 22-year-olds greatest career run so far and moved on into the quarter-finals.
Managing three games on Wednesday’s play, Young has a 2-1 lead in his backpack to continue with. Reigniting on Thursday morning, the two resumed play at the Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean Kings National Tennis Center.
Although the local lad had a lot of support, the new day view quickly turned disastrous for Young. Dropping down in the opening five games, Young conceded the set with 53 unforced errors proving fatal.
As the young American though of what went wrong, Murray lulled the 22-year-old into long, heavy topspin-laced rallies. Forcing Young to play one extra shot, Murray got every shot back forcing the young star to make errors.
Boiling up with frustration, the 22-year-old continued to double fault in set 2 as well, however, managed to shake the Brit a little bit as well. The first seven games went on with back-to-back breakpoints. Breaking the young boy
in the start, Murray fell short as the scores leveled up at 2-2 and then, with two more breakpoints for each of the two, 3-3. However, Murray’s break in game 7 gave him an edge, and another in game 9 put him in a commanding position with a 2 set lead.
With a much clearer start in set 3, Murray started to fire bullet-like reverse-hands passing shots at will and imposing pressure on the young American. Young did succeed with a breakpoint in game 4 as he flashed a brilliance of
his own with a serve-and-volley tactics; however, Murray showed consistency that proved too much for the home boy.
With scores at 4-3, Murray clawed another breakpoint and mustered game 9 to bag a straight set win into the quarter-finals.
“I felt I didn't put my best foot forward and play the way I've been playing the whole time,” said Young. “Andy came out there and played solid the way that I've seen him always play, you know. Didn't miss much, didn't give you
much, made you feel under pressure pretty much the whole time. I didn't execute, and if you don't execute against a player of that calibre, you're going to lose pretty bad.”
Despite the fact that Young is a less skilled player, his performance, comparatively had improved. Only if he could carry his momentum after the rain delay he might as well have won the match but that is just a dream now.
Murray, succeeding into the quarter-final round of the Grand Slam, he has a big 6’9” wall standing in front of him. Isner, who has been in staggering form, will surely give the Brit Goosebumps once he starts firing off with his
lighting aces.
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in the article are the writer’s own personal views and have nothing to do with bettor.com’s editorial policy.
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