Young wins first ATP match

August 20, 2007 10:31 AM
By PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press Writer

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Donald Young won his first ATP Tour match and fifth-seeded Patty Schnyder was upset in the first round of the Pilot Pen on Sunday.

The 18-year-old Young defeated fellow American Amer Delic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

"I'm just relieved,'' said Young, an 18-year-old from Atlanta who won the Wimbledon juniors title last month. "This is my 12th match and the first one that I've won.''

Francesca Schiavone of Italy upset Schnyder of Switzerland 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4. Schnyder was ahead 3-0 and two breaks in the third set, when Schiavone called out a trainer to massage her right shoulder.

The move upset Schnyder who said it "completely'' disrupted her momentum.

"It was pretty ugly, I have to say,'' said Schnyder.

Schiavone said the muscles in that shoulder have been bothering her for about two weeks.

"I said to Patty, 'Sorry for this,' but I couldn't serve,'' she said.

Schiavone came back and won the next four games and broke Schnyder on match point in the 10th game.

Schiavone, who won her first title earlier this year in Austria, said she was feeling better after the match, and did not expect the injury to hamper her play this week.

"It's not something that breaks, it's just muscle,'' she said. "It's calming down.''

Young won the Australian Open junior title in 2005, and earlier this year won a $75,000 challenger tournament in Aptos, Calif, but had never won on tour.

"This was the big goal, winning in the first round (of an ATP event) for the first time,'' he said.

He broke Delic to go up 2-0 in the second set, then had to survive break points on his next three service games.

"I said to myself, 'I'm winning this one,''' Young said.

When Young broke again at 2-2 in the third set, Delic fired a ball over the roof of the Connecticut Tennis Center stadium in frustration.

Young will face the tournament's top seed, Nikolay Davydenko in the second round. Young has been granted a wild card to play in the US Open next week.

He is one of several top young American players in the Pilot Pen.

John Isner, a former All-American at Georgia and runner-up in the NCAA singles championship this year, also received a wild card. The tour rookie, who lost in the finals in Washington to Andy Roddick several weeks ago, will play in a featured match Monday night against German Benjamin Becker.

But Isner said people should not expect that he or Young, or 19-year-old Sam Querrey, are about to become the next Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras.

"We're probably not going to see that again, where American players are winning slams left and right, especially with Roger Federer playing so well,'' he said.

In other mens' matches Sunday, Thomas Johansson of Sweden beat Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 6-2, 6-1; Feliciano Lopez of Spain beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2); Robby Ginepri beat Nicolas Massu 7-6 (1), 6-4; and Mardy Fish beat Florian Mayer of Germany 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

In the women's draw, American Vania King ousted Italian Tathiana Garbin 6-4, 6-4.
 

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