By Chris Oddo | Thursday, April 11, 2014
Jack Sock and Donald Young achieved breakthroughs in Houston, as each reached his first career quarterfinal at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships.
Photo Source: Julian Finney
Jack Sock and Donald Young each saw their way through to the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship quarterfinals on Thursday with big wins on the red clay.
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Sock, who now boasts a 4-2 career record on the surface, defeated Benjamin Becker of Germany, 6-4, 6-3. The 21-year-old American only hit on 45 percent of his first serves, but he was lethal with his second offering, winning 20 of 26 points.
Sock will next face the winner of Thursday night's second-round battle between Nicolas Almagro and Michael Russell. After the top two seeds (John Isner and Tommy Robredo) fell in upsets in the last 24 hours, third-seeded Almagro is the highest seed remaining.
Young, who entered his battle with Juan Monaco Thursday with a paltry 2-11 career record on clay, pulled the upset of the day in taking out the Argentine just a day after he celebrated his 200th career win on clay. Monaco became just one of five active ATP players to reach the milestone, but that didn't help him against Young.
“I’ve never won two matches in a row [on clay]. Definitely not over a former Top 10 guy who wins most his matches on clay,” Young told ATPworldtour.com. “It's a big win for me.”
Young converted seven of eight break points to sail past Monaco, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3, in two hours and 15 minutes, setting up a quarterfinal tilt with fourth-seeded Fernando Verdasco. Verdasco battled past American Steve Johnson in three sets in his first clay-court match of 2014.
Second-seeded Robredo was the biggest seed to fall on the day, going down to Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, 6-3, 6-4.
Fifth-seeded Feliciano Lopez was forced to retire in the second set of his match with Alejandro Gonzalez while trailing 6-3, 3-0. The Spaniard was suffering from allergies.