Early returns at the Rogers Cup were positive on the American side, but that all changed as the competition level spiked from round one to round two. The quartet of Americans that reached the last 32 crashed out of this Masters 1000 event on Wednesday, but not before an impressive display of fighting.
Donald Young had his hands full with an in-form Grigor Dimitrov, who currently registers at No. 8 in the world. Playing his first match since the Wimbledon semifinals, Dimitrov had almost more than he could handle in Young. The 50th-ranked American, a semifinalist last week in Washington, D.C., came out firing and took the opening set from Dimitrov before falling 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Despite the relatively straightforward scoreline in the final two sets, the match came down to little more than just a few points. Young held three of his four third-set service games with ease, but he failed to save the only break point he faced. Dimitrov, meanwhile, faced three break points in the decider and saved them all. That right there proved to be the difference.
Young is projected to climb to No. 48 in the world, although he will have to settle for 49th if Ivan Dodig wins one more match in Toronto.
Another near-upset took place when Jack Sock took the court against familiar foe Milos Raonic. Like Young, Sock bagged the first set but ultimately succumbed 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4). Raonic is now 4-0 against the 21-year-old American in 2014 and 5-1 overall after losing their first head-to-head encounter last year in Memphis.
Joining Young and Sock on the fast track to Cincinnati, where they will have home-court advantage next week, are Michael Russell and Tim Smyczek. Also underdogs, both Russell and Smyczek accounted themselves well–albeit in losing efforts. Russell lost to David Ferrer 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 and Smyczek fell to Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-4 after a whole host of break chances went by the wayside late in the second set.
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