Steve Johnson outshines Donald Young in opening round – BB&T Atlanta Open 2012
In an all-American duel, wildcard Steve Johnson stomped over Donald Young in a topsy-turvy three setter at the BB&T Atlanta Open 2012 on Monday. He nudged up a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory against the world number 58 to book a place in the round of 16 at this outdoor
hard court tournament which is held from 14th to 22nd July in Georgia.
Johnson showed top class tennis to upset his left-handed compatriot in their first meeting. After stealing the show in two hours and nine minutes, the winning American not only took lead in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head
series by 1-0 against Young but also powered into the second round at the Atlantic Station.
Ranked 402nd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Johnson assertively entered the ATP World Tour 250 series event and drew the first blood in the fourth game, consequently going 4-1 up. He held his entire serves after blocking
all six breakpoints he encountered and clicked the opener with a 6-3 win.
Young re-focused his strategy in the follow-up set and after dusting away both breakpoints he faced, the higher ranked American held his entire serves. He cashed in the lone break chance in the sixth game and pulled out the equaliser by winning six games
to three.
In the final set, Johnson sought his early ascendancy again and after getting the coveted break in the second game, he leaped to a 3-0 lead. Apart from losing his edge in the fifth game, the underdog capitalised on another break chance and consequently carved
out the decider with a 6-3 score line.
Summing up the winning American’s performance, Johnson committed nine double faults but smashed 10 aces to neutralise the effect. He clobbered a slightly lower first serve share of 53 per cent as opposed to his rival’s 55 per cent but brilliantly clicked
42 out of 57 points on it.
Johnson will square off against another local wildcard recipient, Jack Sock. The world number 326, Sock, stunned seventh seeded Alex Bogomolov from Russia in a three-set thriller to set up this epic encounter.
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