Young, Berankis Set Quarter-final Clash

American No. 3 seed Donald Young is through to his first quarter-final of the season after downing Marcel Granollers 6-1, 7-6(2) at the Memphis Open on Thursday. The World No. 48 in the Emirates ATP Rankings dropped his opening serve before reeling off six games to take the first set, breaking serve three times en route. 

“It was good. Apart from the first game it was a really solid match,” Young said. “I was able to be aggressive and put some pressure on and not allow him to do the usual mix of shots that he likes to pull out.”

Players traded breaks of serve early in the second before games continued on serve until the tie-break. From there, it was all Young. Making his seventh appearance in the tournament, the 26 year old closed it out on his first match point and moved to within one win of matching his semi-final run from last year.

“This year, it’s the best I’ve played, even though I haven’t played many matches,” Young said. “I didn’t want to go three. Anything could happen in the third if he got momentum.”

He will face Ricardas Berankis next, after the Lithuanian upset Bosnian eighth seed Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 6-4. Berankis, World No. 102 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, had claimed the pair’s only prior clash in Brisbane two years ago and broke serve three times in the opening set.

The 25 year old broke Dzumhur’s serve to love to close out the match in one hour and 23 minutes. He will carry a 1-0 FedEx Head2Head record into his match against Young.

German Benjamin Becker overturned a 0-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against seventh-seeded Australian John Millman to register a 6-2, 7-6(6) victory.

The 34 year old progressed to the quarter-finals in one hour and 21 minutes. After Becker took the opening set without losing a point on his second serve, he quickly found himself trailing a break at 3-0 in the second. The German rallied to break back, however, and saved a set point in the second-set tie-break before closing out the win.