I didn't think he could do it. Certainly not after gagging when serving for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set. But he regrouped, held serve to force that rare thing in professional tennis -- a deciding set tiebreak at a Grand Slam -- and then commenced to play the smartest tiebreak I've ever seen a player play.
It was like watching a genius completely deconstruct his opponent's game. Stanislas Wawrinka had no answer for the deep, high looping shots Young peppered his one-handed backhand with. When he saw an opening, Young flattened out a forehand or a backhand and put it exactly where he wanted it. Save the over-eager forehand that sailed long at 6 points to love, it was a flawless tiebreak that conjured up the king of tennis Martina Hingis used to employ that earned her a reputation for being the smartest player of her generation.
Well, Donald Young is a very smart tennis player. Yesterday, he showed he has heart and fight and guts and composure and resilience, too. Bravo.
::
Use this as your Day 6 Open thread. The farm stand was too busy today for me to get anything up till right now.
Marin Cilic just stole the second set from Roger Federer.
Order of Play for Saturday, September 3, 2011
Arthur Ashe Stadium 11:00 AM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Caroline Wozniacki(DEN)[1] vs. Vania King(USA)
Not Before:1:00 PM
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Roger Federer(SUI)[3] vs. Marin Cilic(CRO)[27]
Not Before:3:00 PM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Victoria Azarenka(BLR)[4] vs. Serena Williams(USA)[28]
Arthur Ashe Stadium 7:00 PM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Sloane Stephens(USA) vs. Ana Ivanovic(SRB)[16]
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Novak Djokovic(SRB)[1] vs. Nikolay Davydenko(RUS)
Louis Armstrong Stadium 11:00 AM
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Tomas Berdych(CZE)[9] vs. Janko Tipsarevic(SRB)[20]
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Jelena Jankovic(SRB)[11] vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(RUS)[17]
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Kevin Anderson(RSA) vs. Mardy Fish(USA)[8]
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Akgul Amanmuradova(UZB) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova(RUS)[15]
Grandstand 11:00 AM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Chanelle Scheepers(RSA) vs. Francesca Schiavone(ITA)[7]
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Andrea Petkovic(GER)[10] vs. Roberta Vinci(ITA)[18]
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Juan Monaco(ARG) vs. Tommy Haas(GER)
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(FRA)[11] vs. Fernando Verdasco(ESP)[19]
Court 17 11:00 AM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Silvia Soler-Espinosa(ESP) vs. Carla Suarez Navarro(ESP)
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Marcel Granollers(ESP)[31] vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero(ESP)
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Alexandr Dolgopolov(UKR)[22] vs. Ivo Karlovic(CRO)
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