Black Tennis Pros

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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ATP SINGLES - QUALIFYING

Round 1

Donald Young, USA defeated by Robert Kendrick, USA
2-6, 4-6

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Second-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who finished runner-up at the Australian Open final in January, earned a hard-fought 7-6(9), 3-6, 7-6(1), victory over qualifier Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic Wednesday for a place in the Thailand Open quarterfinals.

The 23-year-old Tsonga booked his place in a fourth ATP quarterfinal (or better) on the season after one hour and 59 minutes. The La Rippe, Swiss resident, hit 21 aces and converted two of four break point opportunities in a service-dominated match. The pair had previously met on the ATP Challenger circuit in Rennes two years ago.

Tsonga, who missed three months of the season due to knee surgery, is currently No. 18 in the ATP 2008 Race to Shanghai. He has a 20-9 record on the season, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic) and two semifinal exits at Adelaide (l. to Nieminen) and Casablanca (l. to Simon). The 25-year-old Dlouhy, who was contesting his third ATP singles event this year, has a 2-4 season record.

Another Frenchman, fourth seed Gael Monfils, who could move into the Top 20 of the ATP 2008 Race to Shanghai if he wins the title this week, knocked out American Robert Kendrick 6-4, 7-6(4) in 75 minutes. Monfils had a 5-7 start going into Roland Garros, before turning his season around by reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal (l. to Federer) at Roland Garros, followed by a semifinal run at Nottingham (l. to Karlovic), a quarterfinal at the Beijing Olympics (l. to Djokovic) and fourth round performance at the US Open (l. to Fish). The 22-year-old improved to 21-13 on the season, while World No. 102 Kendrick dropped to 3-8.

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