By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, February 21, 2015
Donald Young won eight of the last 10 games to rally past Bernard Tomic into his first ATP final since 2011.
Photo credit: Sports Writers of America-Greg Allan
Delray Beach, Fla. — A pre-match nap left Donald Young sluggish in the opening set. Sleep-walking through a forehand volley at 4-all in the second, Young faced a double-break point knowing Bernard Tomic was on the verge of serving for the match.
In the past, the pressure of such a predicament was often all Young needed to go away. This time, it was the wake-up call that sparked another comeback win.
Relying on his problem-solving skills, aggressive court positioning and his crackling forehand down the line, Young rallied for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory to advance to his second career ATP final.
"It was do or die or go home and I really didn't want to go home — not like that at least," Young said overcoming early turbulence to complete his fourth comeback of the season from a one-set deficit.
The wide smile of relief he flashed after winning eight of the last 10 games to reach his first ATP final since 2011 revealed just how meaningful the moment is to the 56th-ranked American.
"All you can do is put yourself in these positions and hopefully you can walk through the door," Young said. "I haven't been here often, but now it's my second time. Hopefully I can get my first [title]. I'm really excited to get a chance to compete."
Lethargy from a lengthy nap, a skittish serve and Tomic's flat first serve and tricky array of spins and paces all conspired to leave Young looking grumpy and out of sorts at the outset.
"I was pretty irritated. I took a nap before the match, woke up and. everything my mom was saying I was getting mad about," Young said afterward. "Little things were bothering me like them revving up the car on the court, ball kids not bringing the towel fast enough. So it was just a weird mood I was in. Usually those days don't turn out well at all in the past. Those are pretty bad days."
The left-hander had cause for crankiness today.
Facing Tomic a week after edging the Aussie, 7-6 (8), 4-6, 7-5, indoors in the Memphis quarterfinals, Young was spinning his wheels in the early stages of a breezy day. He served a hideous 41 percent in the opener and dumped double faults twice in a row to donate successive breaks as Tomic took a 4-3 lead.
The 46th-ranked Aussie plastered a big serve to close the opening set. Twice in the second set, Tomic slammed two-ace games fighting back from a 1-3 deficit to level at 4-all.
When Young pushed a forehand drop volley wide to fall into a 15-40 hole, the Delray Beach crowd began rhythmically clapping trying to rouse the 25-year-old American to rise. Young answered the call with a little help from his opponent.
On the first break point, Tomic missed his best shot, the two handed backhand, before Young slid a 118 mph serve winner down the T to erase the second. Stepping into the court to apply pressure, Young drew an errant backhand pass to hold for 5-4.
That hard-fought hold rattled Tomic, who clutched at his leg. He saved two set points in the ensuing game but sprayed a forehand beyond the baseline as Young broke again to level the match.
The rangy Tomic stands 6'5" but sometimes plays points like a man 5'6" preferring to counter and massage the ball around the court rather than impose himself in rallies.
"The little guy's supposed to play more defense, right?" a fan sitting six rows up from the red Porsche parked in the corner of the court said at the start of the third set.
Young is quicker around the court and changed directions shrewdly in the decider, often backing Tomic up with his heavy topspin forehand then stepping into the court to bang his flatter forehand down the line leaving the Aussie lunging at air. Young began dialing in that down the line forehand as conditions calmed a bit. He cracked that forehand combination to break for 2-0 before firing another forehand winner down the line to extend to 3-0.
"Last week the up-the-line forehand worked quite well," Young said. "In the beginning there was a crosswind blowing left so my forehand up the line wasn't great early because I was spraying it wide. So I had to kind of recalibrate that and go crosscourt more. I wanted to get him moving and not keep him stationary where he can kind of dissect you and play the way he wants you to play and give you a lot of different spins and depth and paces."
Of course, this being a Donald Young match closure did not come without some drama. Staring up into the sun, a nervous Young netted an easy overhead to face break point in the fifth game. He shook it off, came right back with another forehand down the line to save it, eventually holding 4-1. He fought off two more break points with bold second serves for 5-2 before Tomic netted back-to-back backhands to end the one hour, 53-minute struggle.
"I really didn't want to serve for it to be honest," Young said after rallying to his first final since he lost to Andy Murray in the 2011 Bangkok final.
"It was pretty much a blur, he beat me pretty bad," Young said of the 6-2, 6-0 thrashing he endured in his lone career final. "It was quite quick. I felt like, man, he's a great player he was playing well. I was quite nervous. He gave me a lesson. I don't remember much."
The former junior No. 1 is aiming to create better memories in Sunday's final when he takes on either fourth-seeded Ivo Karlovic or fifth-seeded Adrian Mannarino in Sunday's final.
Young is projected to rise to No. 43 in the rankings by reaching the final. Should he capture his first title on Sunday, he is projected to reach to No. 40 — two spots from the career-high rank of No. 38 he attained three years ago.
The fact he found a way to win when his best tennis eluded him should help Young sleep better tonight, but there's more work to be done tomorrow.
"It's tough to get to finals; it's not like something you do every day," Young said. "There have been other things I felt like were holding me back. It wasn't just my game, it was about the consistency, the mental part and putting together back to back matches."