Black Tennis Pros

American Donald Young at 2012 Wimbledon Championships.

NEWPORT, RI (AP) — Michael Russell beat fellow American and seventh-seeded Donald Young, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, Monday in the opening round at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

The tournament, the only one held on grass courts in North America, features a number of Olympians from 10 countries scheduled to play before heading to the London Games on Wimbledon’s grass surface later this summer.

Young, the 57th-ranked player in the world entering the week, is part of the US Olympic team.

Young dominated the opening set, winning 10 of 11 first-serve points and 16 of 18 service points overall. He closed the set in 25 minutes before the 96th-ranked Russell changed his attack.

‘‘It’s difficult on a grass court, it’s almost like you’re hitting and you keep waiting to see who’s going to get a bad bounce first,’’ Russell said. ‘‘I thought I was playing a little more aggressive in the second or the third set. Even when I did miss, I thought I was playing with the right style of play.’’

In the final set, Young fought off three match points in the ninth game before Russell closed it out when Young hit a backhand service return into the net on the final point.

‘‘Obviously I wanted to close it out when he was serving,’’ Russell said. “But like I said, in the third set I felt really comfortable in my serve and was able to serve it out, which was nice.’’

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Although his opponent in the final of the $50,000 USTA Men's Pro Tennis Championship of Calabasas was 11 years his senior and ranked 129spots higher on the ATP World Tour, it was 20-year-old Donald Young who played like a savvy veteran Sunday.

Relying on clutch serving and some timely passing shots, Young recorded the final six points to capture the first-set tiebreaker and rode the momentum to win the last five games of the match en route to a 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory over No. 100 Michael Russell of Houston at Calabasas Tennis and Swim Center.

It was Young's first singles title since winning a $50,000 Challenger event in Sacramento a year ago and his third as a professional, including a victory at the $75,000 Aptos Challenger in July 2007.

"I'm just happy to get one," said Young, an Atlanta resident and former world junior No. 1. "These are few and far between."

Young's performance also helped erase the disappointment of losing in the semifinals of last year's event to Sam Warburg, in addition to a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 setback to Robert Kendrick in the final of the 2007 tournament.

"It gives you a lot of confidence doing that," said Young, who defeated No. 112 Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 16.

"For me, it's all about being consistent. I've started keeping more balls in play and playing a lot smarter. And I feel like if I'm moving well, I'm playing well."

After recording the match's first break to take a 3-2 lead, it appeared the left-handed Young would be able to serve out the first set. But Russell, who dropped only one set entering the final, broke back in the 10th game, then held to take a 6-5 lead.

Young also held to force the tiebreaker, but hit unforced errors after his first two serves to face a 3-0 deficit.

After Young, who trailed 4-1, hit a backhand winner on the line to tie the tiebreaker at 4-4, Russell hit a backhand into the net, followed by two forehand errors to relinquish the set.

"Donald obviously played great all week," said Russell, who reached the final of the first Calabasas event in 2001. "He handled the conditions much better than I did today."

Young, who rebounded from a first-set loss in his opening-round match against qualifier Louk Sorensen to win his final 10 sets, broke Russell twice in the second set to atone for a 6-4, 6-2 loss in February in Dallas.

"If you don't come with your `A' game against (Michael), you're going to lose," Young said. "It was a big key for me to win the first set, especially serving for it. (Trailing 4-1 in the tiebreaker) I wasn't going to give it up because I knew it would be even tougher to come back and win two sets."

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The always heavily gunned Frenchman Gael Monfils pulled out a well contested match against American qualifier Michael Russell at the Sony Ericsson Open on Friday. Monfils rode nine aces, along with six double faults, to a 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory.

Fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made quick work of his opponent Argentine Agustin Calleri. In just under an hour Tsonga defeated Calleri 6-1, 6-1.

Keeping the numbers even in just over an hour, American James Blake defeated Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4.

The three gentlemen advanced to the third round where Monfils will face Russian Marat Safin, Tsonga will oppose American Robert Kendrick and Blake's opponent will be Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

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